Secrets
by Advent of Shadows
Summary: A little over twelve years ago, an alliance was made in secret between the Hokage and the Tsuchikage. When that secret alliance makes its way to the surface following Naruto's actions in the Land of Waves, everything changes. Naruto/Kurotsuchi
1. The Fourth's Secret

Well, I'm finally back with a new project. This time, I have an AU fic where a secret alliance was formed between Minato Namikaze and Onoki less than two weeks before the Nine-Tails attack.

Summary: A little over 12 years ago, an alliance was made in secret between Minato Namikaze and Onoki of Both Scales. When that secret makes its way to the surface following Naruto's actions in the Land of Waves, everything changes. Naruto/Kurotsuchi

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

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**1. The Fourth's Secret**

It was just a normal spring day in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, or so everyone thought.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was in his office, as he almost always was. He had finished his paperwork for the day already, so he was just practicing his calligraphy. His mind was not on his hobby though.

No, his mind was on the son of his successor and the godson of his most loyal student, Naruto Uzumaki. Earlier that month, the young blond had returned to the village with his team. The typical C-rank escort mission that he had assigned the boy's team had turned into an A-rank mission.

To put it bluntly, the mission had become a clusterfuck. In fact, that was how the boy's sensei had described it into the mission report.

Still, he was happy that Naruto had survived and completed the mission with his team. It was a truly amazing thing, considering that they had been up against the feared Demon of the Hidden Mist and a member of the supposedly extinct Yuki clan of the Land of Water.

"Lord Hokage, we have a situation."

Hiruzen set his brush down and looked back at the now open doorway of his office with a hint of surprise. Shikaku Nara, the Nara clan head and the current Jonin Commander of the village, was standing in the doorway with a worried expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" he asked with a sigh. To quote the man's son, he suspected that something _troublesome_ was about to happen.

"The Third Tsuchikage appears to be floating above this building, sir. He's just outside of the barrier. We only realized he was up there because a sensor detected him."

Whatever he had been expecting, that was not it. _Troublesome indeed._

"Inform the Barrier Team that we will be having a guest in a few moments," he said as he stood up and put the Hokage's hat upon his head. "I'll go and seen what Onoki wants."

It did not take long for Hiruzen to reach the roof of the Administration Building. In fact, it only took a few minutes because he waited in his office for a couple minutes so that his shinobi did not mobilize the instant that Onoki passed through the barrier.

When he reached the top of the building, he waved the Tsuchikage down. Almost immediately, Onoki flew downward at a slow speed. It was fairly clear to him that the man was simply trying not to alarm anyone. The old man could fly faster than most jonin could run without hurting himself, after all.

As Onoki landed on the room, Hiruzen took in his appearance. It seemed that he had changed little in recent years.

He was an old man of incredibly short stature with white hair at the back of his head, which was held back in a topknot, and at the sides of his head. As always, he had thick eyebrows that were only matched by those of Might Guy, a mustache with angular corners, and a triangular beard. A pale green coat with yellow trim and a red collar covered his body.

"How are you doing, Onoki?" Hiruzen asked pleasantly. He did not wish to come across as rude or hostile to the older man.

"I'm fine, Sarutobi," Onoki replied with a grin. "We should take this to your office though. If you're as confused as you look about my arrival here, then you're going to want to sit down for this."

Hiruzen nodded his head, his interest piqued. He turned his back to Onoki and headed back to his office, doing his best to appear calm. Onoki's unexpected arrival truly did make him feel nervous.

As it was, Hiruzen had never lost a fight in his life, but he had come close several times in the past. One of the closest times that he had ever come to losing had been against Onoki. Though the knowledge that he had beaten Onoki in his youth may have been somewhat reassuring, he was not sure that he could win again if a fight broke out between them.

His fighting capabilities had weakened in recent years with his diminished physical abilities and chakra levels. Onoki, however, had a rather special fighting style. He generally stuck with his dust style ninjutsu in a fight, and he rarely ever needed to use more than one attack to defeat someone.

The pair remained silent until they were in Hiruzen's office with four privacy seals decorating the room, one on each wall.

"I have something that you need to see," Onoki said as he removed a scroll from the inside of his coat and handed it to Hiruzen. He immediately took a seat opposite of where Hiruzen normally sat.

Looking at the scroll with interest, Hiruzen sat down and nodded his head absently. He carefully unrolled the scroll and began to read it at that point.

"This is… unexpected," Hiruzen said a few minutes later, his nervousness melting into astonishment. "How did this come about?"

Onoki chuckled at that. "Your successor began to try to negotiate an alliance with me about five months after the end of the war. Naturally, I refused him, but he was persistent. It actually made me suspicious of his motives.

Hiruzen frowned, finding himself unaware of Minato's actions back then. He had been enjoying his retirement with his wife and sons.

He quickly pulled out one of the bottom drawers of his desk and removed a red leather-bound book from it. On the cover of it was the number four, and it had a lock mechanism on the right hand side of it with a small, circular indention in it.

"His journal, eh?" Onoki asked in amusement.

"You only know half of the story," Hiruzen answered with a frown.

"Then let me finish my half," Onoki said with a nod. Amusement could still be seen in his eyes. "Back then, my spies were able to learn that Minato had married Kushina Uzumaki in secret. What's more is that they managed to learn that she was pregnant. Naturally, the prospect of a second Yellow Flash made me worry about my shinobi. Just one was able to completely turn the tide of a war against us. Against two, I might not have been able to come out victorious." Distaste could be heard in his voice. No kage liked to admit that they could be defeated, so it was not an unexpected emotion. "So I agreed to open up talk for an alliance between our villages. However, I wanted it to be kept a secret. If anyone learned of our meetings, things would have turned sour."

Hiruzen suddenly looked at the scroll again out of instinct. His eyes widened as he spotted a clause that he had missed initially.

"In the end, we made an alliance. However, that alliance was dependent on the promise that my granddaughter was to be tied in matrimony to the son of the Yellow Flash by his fourteenth birthday," Onoki said, confirming what Hiruzen had just read. "It was because of that promise that I'm here today."

"You thought that Minato's family was completely gone," Hiruzen guessed. "Naruto's death would have nullified the alliance that we made."

"Exactly," Onoki said with a sharp nod of his head. "I'm truly glad that you were ignorant about the alliance. If you had known about it, then we would have a problem. After all, you hid his identity and origins from the world."

Hiruzen closed his eyes. Onoki was absolutely right, and they both knew it. His ignorance was a good thing in that circumstance. "How did you find out that he was alive after all?"

"My son returned from the Land of Waves last week, and he told me about a boy that they call _the Hero of Wave_. As if hearing the boy's full name wasn't enough, my son was able to get a photo of him from the locals. Even my old eyes can see that he's the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. He even wears the Uzumaki clan's insignia on his jacket."

"So I guess the Hidden Leaf Village and the Hidden Rock Village are allies then," Hiruzen said with a deep breath as he unlocked the journal and began to flip through it. He truly believed that Onoki was telling the truth, but he could not help but check to make sure that the old shinobi was being honest with him.

"Yes, that's how I'd like to see it. We've truly been allies for the past twelve years. We just haven't been very good allies," Onoki said with a chuckle. "But anyways, I'd like you to sign the alliance treaty. You are the current Hokage, and it would be a good idea to make it clear that this isn't just an alliance that your long dead successor wanted."

Hiruzen nodded as he shut the journal. He had been able to verify Onoki's story completely. Minato had detailed the secret meetings in great detail in his journal. If he did not know any better, Hiruzen would say that Minato did it just in case things happened like they did.

It was not too farfetched, to be honest. After all, he had only told Kushina about the alliance, according to the journal. A record of it written in Minato's hand had been vital.

"Very well then," Hiruzen said as he signed the document and looked across the desk at Onoki. "It seems that this alliance is official."

"You're taking the news well," Onoki commented. "Don't forget that the arranged marriage is very important to this alliance."

"I know," Hiruzen said calmly. "I believe that it is the only way we can hope to keep a long lasting peace between our villages. Minato clearly believed the same, and he made no wasted motion in his life."

Onoki nodded with a grim smile. Most of Minato's actions had cost him subordinates. Being reminded of it was not all that pleasant.

"So tell me… do you intend for your shinobi to take part in the upcoming Chunin Selection Exams?" Hiruzen asked. "They begin in a little over a month."

"I believe that would be for the best. After all, Kuro should meet young Uzumaki before they learn of the arrangement."

Hiruzen nodded with a chuckle. He knew first-hand how bad first impressions could be between two people when they knew that they were to be forced into a marriage against their wills. The Hyuga and Uchiha clans had allowed him to see it fairly often. "I look forward to meeting your granddaughter and seeing what she can do."

"I'll be interesting," Onoki said as he floated up from his chair. "I believe that it's time for me to go through. You have to tell your village some big news, after all."

Hiruzen nodded as he rolled up the alliance treaty. He handed it to the shorter man with a light smile.

As Onoki left, he knew that he would have a hell of a time explaining the situation in full to the clan heads and his advisors.

* * *

A little more than an hour later, Hiruzen was sitting at a large round table in a rather plain room. Seated at the table were Homura Mitokado, Konharu Utatane, Tsume Inuzuka, Hiashi Hyuga, Shibi Aburame, Choza Akimichi, Shikaku Nara, and Inoichi Yamanaka. They were all talented shinobi in their own rights, and all but the first two were clan heads.

"I thank you all for coming," Hiruzen said as he looked around the table at his subordinates. "Today, we have had a visit from the Third Tsuchikage." He could tell that he had their full attention at those words, especially Shikaku's, seeing as how he knew that the Tsuchikage had visited but did not know what it had been about.

"Is war upon us?" Homura asked.

Hiruzen shook his head with a light smile. "It would appear that the Fourth Hokage signed a document before his death without telling anyone. Apparently, we are allied with the Village Hidden in the Rocks, and Onoki came to bring that to my attention.

The room grew quiet at that. It was unexpected news, to say the least.

_Silence is better than yelling_, Hiruzen mused.

"Can I see the document?" Shikaku asked after a few moments.

"In your capacity as the Jonin Commander, you can visit my office and read over the document," Hiruzen said, thankful that he had been able to find Minato's copy of it in one of the hidden compartments in his office after Onoki left. "However, I cannot allow anyone other than myself and the village's Jonin Commander to have access to it. Its contents are to be kept a secret for now."

"That's understandable," Shibi suddenly said. "Given the Tsuchikage's obvious dislike for alliances, I suspect that there is a rather important clause in it that you wish to remain hidden for now."

_Shibi's always been a sharp one._ Hiruzen looked around and saw that all of the occupants of the room had understood the exact type of clause that Shibi was referring to.

"Lord Hokage, are any of us in the need-to-know about this… as clan heads?" Shikaku asked.

"No," Hiruzen said, effectively telling them that no one in their clans was going to be involved in a political marriage. "Now, this meeting has come to a close. This alliance is not to be kept a secret. The entire village should know by sunset. Even if you don't actively go around, telling people about it, please make sure that your clan knows. You are all dismissed."

One by one, the clan heads left, leaving only the Hokage and his advisors in the room.

"Sarutobi, are you going to keep this a secret from us too?" Koharu asked, looking at her old teammate.

"Yes," he answered with a sad smile. "Secrets just don't like staying secrets. The fewer people who know, the less likely it is that it will get out."

"But we're your friends and advisors," Koharu interjected.

"I won't let this get out like the last big secret got out," Hiruzen said, Naruto's image coming to mind. "Even after I decreed that no one was to talk about it, they still did. Worse, they told their children to avoid him. So no, I won't risk another big secret getting out."

Neith advisor said anything at that. There was nothing that they could say, really.

"Now, I must meet with Kakashi so that I can check on his team's progress. Have a nice day," Hiruzen said.

With those words, he rose from his chair and left the room, leaving his advisors behind to think on everything that he had said.

_Well, that went better than expected._

* * *

When Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived at his office, he saw that Kakashi Hatake was already there, waiting for him. He immediately shut the door and activated the privacy seals that were still on the walls.

"Tenzo said you needed to speak with me, sir," Kakashi said as he shut the book he had been reading and turned his attention to the Hokage.

"Read this," Hiruzen said as he walked over to his desk, removed a scroll from it, undid the blood seal that kept it shut, and held it out to Kakashi.

When he was done reading it, Kakashi shook his head. "We're allies with them _and_ Naruto has to marry Kitsuchi's daughter? I wonder who Naruto got his unpredictable personality from now. At first, I thought it was Kushina, but this tops anything she ever did."

Hiruzen nodded his head, amused by the train of thought and surprised that Kakashi had managed to remain so calm.

"I want you to step up Naruto's training. He's progressing, but he isn't going to impress Onoki as he is," Hiruzen said with a sigh. "It's clear that Onoki agreed to this alliance out of fear when he learned that Minato had a son. If he comes to the conclusion that he was wrong, he may decide that he's better off without us."

Kakashi sighed, clearly understanding the situation. "I'll have to put in some hours. He's not the brightest boy around. Oh well… how long do I have?"

"You have a little over a month," Hiruzen said, smiling when Kakashi failed to grasp the importance of that time of year.

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Author's Note: If you liked this chapter, then I have good news. I went ahead and finished the first three chapters before I posted this story. However, I don't like posting multiple chapters at once. When I do, I get less reviews on average.

That said, I should have the second chapter up tomorrow and the third chapter up the day after that. I still have to type them up, so I couldn't post them all right now if I wanted to. You see, my laptop is still in the shop, so I'm using my parents' computer at night but am handwriting the chapters.

Oh, and I just want to make this clear to returning readers. About three months ago, I said that I was going to stop writing fanfiction so I could focus on original fiction. Well, I am writing both original fiction and fanfiction now. I have my reasons for writing both, but I doubt you really want to hear about it, so just rest assured that I'm going to do both.


	2. Training, At Last

Wow, talk about a great reception for this story. In less than twenty-four hours, I obtained over fifty reviews. Apparently, I picked a well-liked pairing, and I only heard a few complaints.

On that note, let me say that Danzo was not at that meeting. I wil admit that there was some slight OOC-ness in some of the characters in the chapter. I'm not quite in tune with Onoki yet, and I kind of forgot that I wrote Tsume Inuzuka into that meeting. She should have reacted, seeing as how she's a lot like Kiba.

Oh, and someone mentioned Kurotsuchi's age. No one knows her exact age, but she I suspect that she's around Temari's age in the manga. She calls Deidara _big brother_, unless I'm mistaken, so she has to be younger than him, and he's not that much older than Temari. In this story, I'm putting her at the same age as Team Guy though.

Now, I'd like to say that this chapter is a little shorter and covers Naruto's training.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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**2. Training, At Last**

Naruto Uzumaki sighed as he walked behind Sakura Haruno, who held a cat in her arms as they walked through the hall. For the third time since becoming genin, they had been sent to retrieve Tora, the personal cat of Madam Shijimi, the Feudal Lord's wife.

Like clockwork, they entered the Mission Assignments Room, handed over the cat, and left. All the while, their sensei read one of his orange books.

As they went through the process, Naruto clenched his fists. He was getting sick and tired of it all. All they did was meet five days a week, do some teamwork training, and occasionally do a D-rank mission. After everything that they had been through in the Land of Waves, he had expected some real training and at least C-rank missions. But instead, Kakashi had not introduced any of that into their time together.

He was broken from his thoughts once they were outside the building. Kakashi's words came as a surprise to him.

"Sakura, Sasuke, you're dismissed. I need to talk to our hyperactive knucklehead," he said. They seemed to accept it without question and left.

"What's going on? Did I do something wrong?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Come with me," Kakashi said, doing his signature eye-smile. "This isn't a good place to talk."

Naruto frowned, but he followed Kakashi away from there without question.

The pair traveled in silence, eventually arriving at the Third Training Ground, the training grounds where Team Seven was formed.

"Naruto, you're not in trouble," Kakashi said suddenly. "In fact, I asked you to come with me today so that I could begin the next stage of your training."

"Are you serious, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked enthusiastically.

Kakashi nodded his head. "Sasuke has good chakra control, several fire jutsu, good taijutsu, talent with shurikenjutsu, and the Sharingan. As it is right now, your only skill is your talent with shadow clones. So you really need training if you're going to catch up to him."

Naruto frowned at that. He hated having his deficiencies pointed out to him like that.

"Every day, after I dismiss you, I want you to come here. Also come here on the weekends around eight in the morning. I'll whip you into shape. By the time I'm through with you, you'll be Sasuke's equal," Kakashi said.

Determination filled Naruto's eyes at those words. "When do we begin?"

Kakashi chuckled at that and removed a single bell from his flak jacket. "I'm going to need to see the full extent of your abilities first hand. The same rules apply as last time. Come at me with the intent to kill, or you'll never get the bell."

"What do I get if I get the bell?" Naruto asked.

Though it was impossible to tell for sure because of his mask, Naruto thought that Kakashi grinned at his question.

"If you get the bell, I'll teach you the jutsu that I used against Zabuza… the one that killed Haku."

Naruto's eyes widened at that prospect moments before he sprung in action.

Years later, he'd laugh at that memory and how foolish he had been to think that he could single handedly get the bell from Kakashi of the Sharingan.

* * *

Naruto had been coming to private training sessions for two weeks, and he had managed to keep the arrangement a secret from everyone. If people wanted to think that he was weak, then he would let them. It would give him an edge over his opponents, or so he was told, repeatedly, by Kakashi.

The past two weeks had been unexpected for the blond genin. He had expected ninjutsu training, but Kakashi had spent the entire time on physical conditioning and taijutsu training until the day before.

He had begun to suspect that Kakashi's only focus would be on his physical abilities until the day before, in all honesty. However, the change to learning to walk on water with the use of chakra had changed his perceptions about the training.

"There you are," Kakashi suddenly said, catching Naruto's attention as he appeared in a cloud of smoke. "Are you ready for your hardest day of training so far?"

Naruto looked excited at the prospect of that, even if he had no idea what the training would entail.

"Today, I'll start you on elemental ninjutsu, which is quite possibly the greatest combat ability for your average shinobi. A good example of that would be my fight with Zabuza."

Naruto's eyes lit up at the prospect of learning the type of jutsu that he had seen used in that fight.

"Are you going to teach me some of that cool water jutsu like Zabuza used? Or maybe some badass fire jutsu like Sasuke uses? Or maybe some lightning jutsu-"

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Kakashi interrupted. "Every shinobi has an affinity to a single element. The element that you have an affinity for would be our best bet."

"What's an affinity?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded.

Kakashi sighed and removed a small square piece of paper from his flak jacket at that point. "An affinity… it just means that everyone is a little better with one specific element. For me, that's lightning. For Zabuza, that was water."

"How do I find out what mine is?" Naruto asked curiously.

Kakashi held up the square of paper and cleared his throat. "This paper is made from a special type of tree that is grown and nurtured with chakra. It is because of this special process that the paper reacts strongly to even the slightest hint of chakra. The way that it reacts will tell you what your affinity is," Kakashi explained. "If your affinity is for fire, the paper will ignite and turn to ash. If it's wind, the paper will split in two. If it's lightning, the paper will wrinkle. If it's earth, the paper will turn to dirt and crumble away. Finally, if it's water, the paper will become wet."

"What about ice?" Naruto asked, earning another sigh from his sensei.

"That's a discussion for another time. Let's just say that ice ninjutsu is rare and can only be used by someone who carries the kekkei genkai, the bloodline limit, of the Yuki clan," Kakashi said as he handed the slip of paper to Naruto. "It's time to see what your affinity is."

The instant that Naruto touched the paper, it split into two.

"Well, that complicates things. Wind is a rare affinity, and it's my worst element," Kakashi mused. Sure, he knew some wind jutsu, but he knew them better in theory than anything.

"Great! I get to blow people around while Sasuke can burn them to a crisp," Naruto muttered sarcastically.

Kakashi could not help but laugh at that. "You're underestimating wind. By that same line of thought, shouldn't water jutsu just make people wet?"

Naruto frowned, remembering the high level water jutsu that Kakashi and Zabuza had used in their first fight.

"Wind can blow people away. I won't deny that. However, it can also be used to form tornado, form near invisible blades with incredible cutting power, and physically crush bones. It's actually called the attack element," Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

Naruto's eyes widened. It was clear that he had been unaware that wind could be used to do such things.

"Ironically, your wind ninjutsu will complement Sasuke's fire ninjutsu, combining to form an even stronger jutsu," Kakashi said with another eye-smile.

Naruto looked at his sensei intently at that point. He felt that there was something that Kakashi was not telling him. In the end, he simply asked, "What jutsu are you going to teach me first?"

Kakashi stepped back and formed the tiger hand sign at that point. He transitioned to ox, dog, rabbit, and snake at a speed that Naruto could just barely follow. He then turned away from Naruto and exhaled. The exhaled breath soon turned into a fierce gust of wind that plowed through the nearby forest.

Naruto was shocked as he saw that the wind had snapped a couple dozen tree branches and had left visible tracks in five different trees.

"That's the simplest wind jutsu that I know of. It's called the Wind Style: Great Breakthrough. To use it, you must first generate the necessary chakra. Then, you must form the hand signs of tiger, ox, dog, rabbit, and snake as you inhale a deep breath. Your chakra will mold just right as a result of the hand signs. After that, you must mix the molded chakra in with the breath that you just took in and exhale them both together. When you exhale, your breath will turn into a gust of wind," Kakashi explained. "That's the simple explanation, at least."

"That's simple?" Naruto asked, still a little confused by the explanation.

"Yep," Kakashi replied. "I could go into the more technical aspects of the jutsu, like the precise mixture of physical and spiritual energy required to make the chakra used for the jutsu perfect. That's a subject best saved for a much later date, however. Figuring that out requires a lot of trial and error."

Naruto shook his head, not entirely sure what Kakashi was talking about at that point. All that he knew was that he could still remember the required hand signs and the basic instructions.

He turned away from Kakashi, formed the hand signs as he took a deep breath, mixed his chakra with the air that he had inhaled, and exhaled.

After half a second of exhaling chakra filled air, he began coughing. With each cough, his throat hurt more and more.

After he coughed for the twenty-fifth time in a row, Kakashi said, "Oh, and don't put too much charka into your breath. It makes the air too dense to use and induces a rather painful coughing fit."

He chuckled when Naruto flipped him off.

* * *

Naruto was not the only member of Team Seven who had begun to undergo more serious training.

Sitting in the library with a book in front of her, Sakura was as determined as ever to get stronger. Unlike Naruto, she had no one to turn to for training though.

She knew that Naruto had begun to train with Kakashi, even if no one had bothered to tell her. As if the change in Naruto's attitude towards Kakashi was not enough, she had seen him head to the Third Training Ground ever single day.

It was because of her lack of a sensei that could focus on her that she went to the library. It was in her nature to turn to books when she needed help.

Fortunately, she had come across the one book that could help her. It was called _Genjutsu:_ _A Student's Guide_, and it was written by Toka Senju, one of Hashirama Senju's closest advisors at the time of the village's founding.

Apparently, the book had served as the genjutsu textbook in the Academy until the end of the Third Shinobi World War. That was what the librarian had told her when she asked about it, at least.

In all honesty, Sakura had not chosen genjutsu as a subject lightly. She had never really been interested in genjutsu, as a matter of fact.

However, she had excellent chakra control and had shown an affinity to genjutsu, or so Kakashi had told her a few weeks back. He had called her a genjutsu type kunoichi, though she had no idea what it meant initially.

_I need to become good with genjutsu. Kakashi-sensei used it to beat me in the Bell Test, after all, and I'm not going to let anyone else do so again._

Looking at the book, she could not help but smile. She was three-quarters of the way through it, and she had finally reached the instructions for casting a genjutsu.

And it was the same one that Kakashi had used on her in the Bell Test.

Ah, the irony.

"I'll show everyone that I'm not useless," she vowed in a whisper.

* * *

Author's Note: And that's that. Chapter 2 is over, and I apologize now for the shortness. I'm handwriting my chapters since my computer's still in the shop. Apparently, I need a new hard drive for it. As a result, I have absolutely no idea how long my chapters are until I type them up.

Anyways, Chapter 3 will be up sometime tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Oh, and I have a question for anyone who wants to answer it. Who would you like to see Naruto fight in Secrets the most? There are no promises, but I might be able to work in some cool fights into the fic.


	3. The Chunin Exams

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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**3. The Chunin Exams**

A little less than a month after Onoki's visit to the village, Hiruzen Sarutobi found himself in one of the meeting rooms in the Administration building. With him were a couple dozen jonin, along with a few special jonin and chunin.

"Seeing who stands among you, the topic at hand may be a bit easy to determine," Hiruzen said. He smiled as he saw Kakashi look around. It was clear that he realized that the jonin present all had teams of genin and that the chunin worked at the Academy.

"Is it time already?" Kaskashi asked.

"Yes," Hiruzen said. "To make it clear, I hereby announce that the Chunin Selection Exams will begin in seven days, on the first day of July."

Whispers filled the room at that. They quieted whenever Kakashi asked the question that had been on several of their minds.

"Will our new allies be participating?"

"Yes, a single team from the Village Hidden in the Rocks will be participating," Hiruzen answered. Arguing soon filled the room. It was easy to forget who their new ally was when they could stay far away from each other. It was much harder to know that they would have to be in the same village as Rock shinobi.

"Now then, it's time to discuss who will be representing our village in the Chunin Selection Exams," Hiruzen said loudly, effectively quieting the room. "To start us off, I'd like the jonin-sensei of our three rookie teams to step forward."

Immediately, Kakashi Hatake, Kurenai Yuhi, and Asuma Sarutobi stepped to the front.

"Do any of you wish to nominate your genin?" Hiruzen asked. "As you know, we can only consider them if they have completed at least eight missions, though it is recommended that they have completed twice that. Beyond that requirement, only the sensei can decide if his genin are ready." Hiruzen noticed a frown on Iruka Umino's face in the crowd. He was not surprised at all by the frown, and he would have been willing to bet that it was just the beginning. "You may begin, Kakashi."

"Upon the honor of my clan, the Hatake, I vow that all three of my students are ready for the Chunin Selection Exams."

Hiruzen allowed a small smile to show on his face. He had been expecting that, after all.

"Like my esteemed colleague, I too vow upon the honor of my clan, the Yuhi, that all three of my students are ready for the Chunin Selection Exams," Kurenai Yuhi suddenly said.

"I guess I can't be too surprised by those two," Asuma Sarutobi said. "Upon the honor of my clan, the Sarutobi, I vow that all three of my students are ready for the Chunin Selection Exams."

_How unusual… it's been five years since a single rookie team of genin have been allowed to compete. I can't even remember the last time that three were though. This is definitely a special class of rookies._

"Just a moment!"

The sudden outburst turned everyone's attention to Iruka Umino.

"Yes Iruka?" Hiruzen asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Lord Hokage, please forgive me if I overstep, but the rookie genin were all my students until just a few months ago. I'll admit that all of them are talented and show commitment, but it's too soon. They're just kids."

"I obtained the rank of chunin when I was half as old as Naruto," Kakashi interjected.

"Naruto's not like you!" Iruka said fiercely. "None of the rookies have the experience or maturity to deal with these exams. Do you want to destroy them?"

"As their sensei, I have the utmost faith in them," Kakashi said seriously. "And before you say that they're too young again, look around the room. I don't know the records of everyone in this room, but those that I do know about all became chunin by the age of thirteen. If you don't believe me, then ask Anko, Genma, Hayate, Guy, Asuma, or Kurenai."

"Enough," Hiruzen said, seeing the fire in Iruka's eyes. "They are no longer your students. If the jonin that I assigned to them tell me that they are ready, then they are."

Though it was clear that Iruka wished to argue further, he did not have the gall to press the matter after the Hokage intervened.

"Now, I will accept nominations by the jonin-sensei of the older teams of genin," Hiruzen said.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he walked down the street.

Kakashi had left them notes that morning, informing them that they would meet up at two in the afternoon instead of their usual time as a result of an unexpected meeting.

He had decided to spend his time with Konohamaru and the young boy's friends after realizing that he had nothing to do until the meeting.

Unfortunately, Sakura had come across them and insulted him for playing ninja with the academy students. That led to Konohamaru insulting her. Needless to say, she overreacted and chased after both of them.

Unlike the young Sarutobi, Naruto had managed to lose her by turning off down an alleyway. Still, he felt obligated to make sure that Konohamaru did not get hurt too badly. After all, the boy had defended him.

Naruto stopped in place as he saw Sakura apologizing to a pair of teens- a blonde girl with four spiky pony tails and a fan on her back and a boy in a black body suit with purple face paint and what appeared to be a mummy on his back.

Anger filled him as the boy lifted Konohamaru into the air by his scarf. He wanted to run up and punch the teen in the face, but a voice in the back of his mind stopped him. It told him to clear his mind. Seeing as how it sounded like Kakashi, he did as it instructed. It was only thanks to his training with Kakashi that he could do so.

Shock was clear on everyone's faces as Naruto appeared next to the teen and grabbed him by the wrist with his left hand.

"Let him go, or you'll lose your hand," Naruto said as he removed a kunai from his shuriken holster with his right hand. Anger was easily visible in his eyes.

"Why you-" the teen began, but he stopped when a kunai was pressed to his throat. Standing behind him was Sasuke Uchiha.

"Naruto might not have the nerve to follow through with his threat, but I do," Sasuke said dangerously. "Drop the kid or face the consequences."

Naruto frowned at the way that Sasuke disrespected him, but he had to ignore it at Konohamaru was dropped to the ground.

As soon as the boy touched the ground, the teen used the body flicker distance to get outside of Sasuke's range. "Only a leaf ninja would be too big a coward to fight me one-on-one," he scoffed.

"Kankuro, stop it," the blonde kunoichi said. "We're not supposed to cause trouble."

"That's correct. Did I not make that clear, Kankuro?"

Everyone's attention turned to a red-haired boy who was standing in the shadow of a nearby tree with a large gourd on his back.

"G-Gaara, I didn't mean to… they-" the boy now known as Kankuro began.

"Shut up or I'll kill you," the red-haired boy, now known as Gaara, said with a cold look. He looked at Naruto at that point. "Sorry about my bone-headed teammate." Turning his attention to his teammates, he said, "I know we're a little early, but we didn't come to play around."

"I swear it won't happen again," Kankuro said nervously.

Gaara nodded his head, giving Naruto the impression that he had expected that answer all along. "Temari, Kankuro, let's go."

"Wait!" Sakura suddenly said, bringing the three shinobi to a stop. "By your forehead protectors, you're shinobi of the Hidden Sand Village. Though our villages are allies, Sand ninja aren't allowed to enter the Hidden Leaf Village without permission. We can't just let you go."

"How cute… she thinks she could stop us," Temari said with a roll of her eyes. She held up a slip of paper for them to see. "See, we have our travel papers. We're here for the Chunin Selection Exams. Surely even a kid like you knows what that is."

"Oh, I didn't know that it was coming up," Sakura said. A mixture of embarrassment and anger could be seen in her eyes.

She looked at Naruto suddenly and began to explain what the Chunin Selection Exams were to him at that point. She never noticed the way his fists clenched as he listened to her explanation.

Though he did not say it, he found it very insulting that Sakura assumed that he did not know what the Chunin Selection Exams were. He would have to be a dumbass of epic proportions to not what the most basic method of promotion from genin to chunin was.

"What's your name," Sasuke said with his finger pointed at Gaara.

_We already know his name,_ Naruto thought with a look of puzzlement on his face. The other male Sand ninja, Kankuro, had said his name, after all.

"I'm Gaara of the Sand," the youngest Sand genin present answered. "And you are?"

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha," the raven haired genin answered in turn.

"Do you want to know my name?" Naruto asked, looking at Gaara. He had to admit that he was growing more and more annoyed by Sasuke's actions as the day went on.

"No," Gaara said, looking away from him dismissively. "Let's go."

With that, Gaara walked away with his teammates and Sasuke used the body flicker technique to disappear in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto looked to his other teammate at that point with a sigh. "What do you think about that?"

"Sasuke's amazing," Sakura said dreamily.

Naruto's fists clenched at that. He was getting tired of the way that everyone dismissed him in favor of Sasuke. It was even worse when it was done by his own teammate, especially when he did almost the exact same thing as Sasuke did.

_And I did it first. He just copied me. I get no respect._

"Boss, that was amazing!" Konohamaru exclaimed with a look of admiration in his eyes.

_Well, almost no respect._

"Come on, Konohamaru. I'll treat you to some Ichiraku Ramen," Naruto said with a smile directed to his young friend. As they walked off, he sent a glare at Sakura though she failed to notice it.

* * *

Three hours later, Naruto was at the bridge where Team Seven normally met at when Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Good afternoon," he said as he waved at them. "The meeting ran over later than expected, which is why I'm late."

"You're actually early," Naruto said with a grin.

"Early?" Kakashi asked with a hint of mortification in his tone. It went against his hard earned reputation to be on time, let alone early. Sighing, he shook his head. "In any case, I've recommended all three of you for the upcoming Chunin Selection Exams."

Naruto's eyes lit up at that, as did those of his teammates.

"You have to fill out these applications if you want to participate," Kakashi said as he walked towards them with three pieces of paper in his hands. "The exams are completely voluntary, so you don't have to take them if you don't want to. If you don't want to, then just don't turn in your application. If you do, however, then report to room three hundred-one of the Academy at eight o'clock in the morning on the first day of July." He handed the applications over to his students at that point. "That's it for the day. We won't be meeting again as a team until the Chunin Exams are over with, so enjoy yourselves."

With everything that he needed to say spoken, Kakashi disappeared. He was not the only one though. Naruto was gone as well.

* * *

Half an hour later, Naruto ran into the Third Training Ground where Kakashi was waiting with his book in hand. The book made its way to his hip pouch as he saw Naruto though.

"I hope you're prepared to train," Kakashi said as he looked at Naruto. "With the Chunin Exams a week away, we're going to have our work cut out for us."

"What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked. By the expression on his face, it was clear that he did not understand why in the slightest.

_I suppose I could tell him how dangerous everything is, especially with the Hidden Rock Village sending a team to compete and him being the son of the most infamous man in their history books, but I'd probably get in trouble if I did all of that._

"Well... when we began your training, you weren't very good. I hate to say that, but it's the truth. Now, you have a handful of ninjutsu outside of the basic academy jutsu, taijutsu on par with Sasuke's, and decent chakra control. You are a very talented genin now, and I'm proud to call myself your sensei," Kakashi said with his classic eye-smile. "That said, the Chunin Exams will be tough. Every village that we are on good terms with will be sending their best genin to compete. In order to make sure you're ready for the challenges ahead of you, I want to spend the next seven days training you. Make sure you're here every morning at eight until then."

Naruto grinned at that. "So we're training today too, right?"

Kakashi nodded his head. "Let's see how far you've come so far."

With those words, Naruto sprung into action.

* * *

Author's Note: When I wrote this chapter, I had Naruto Volume 4 open. I'm still getting used to writing fanfiction again, so I needed to make sure I had the characters mostly in character, especially Gaara. Apart from telling Kankuro that he'd kill him if he didn't shut up, Gaara was mostly civil when he first appeared. Hell, he actually apologized to Team 7 because of Kankuro.

It was because of this that I had Kakashi and Kurenai vow upon the honor of their clans. Unless Viz screwed up on their translations (wouldn't surprise me), then they really did vow upon the honor of their clans when they nominated their students.

Oh, and I want to make one thing clear before I bring this to a close. The specifics of Naruto's training in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 were intentionally left out. I want his abilities to remain a bit vague for now. I will say that he did not use the Shadow Clone training method, he had not learned to use wind chakra yet, and Kakashi did not start him on the Rasengan.

Anyways, next chapter should be longer than any of the chapers that came before it.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.


	4. The Chunin Exams Begin

Author's Note: I absolutely hate answering reviews in my chapters, due to the fact that the only people who care about what a reviewer on here says are the reviewer and the writer.

However, VenoSnaker reviewed all three of my chapters and has private messaging disabled. The reviews deserve a response too.

VenoSnaker, to your three reviews, I say this:

Believe it or not, I know all about Japanese naming conventions, and my knowledge of the Naruto universe is greater than that of most people. You told me a bunch of things that I already know. As my readers know, I use the English dubbed convention of writing. As such, I use Naruto Uzumaki and Shadow Clone Jutsu. I'm used to it, seeing as how I primarily watch the dubbed anime.

Oh, and I'll say this once for everyone. I will **never **write a harem. I respect women too much to even think about it.

On a side note, the Land of Rain, the Land of Grass, and the Land of the Waterfall are not considered to be the canon names of the countries where those minor villages reside. Many people, including myself, use them. They are fan names though.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**4. The Chunin Exams Begin**

"So, that's the Village Hidden in the Leaves?" a thirteen year old kunoichi with short raven hair and pale pink eyes asked.

Onoki looked up at her at the question and nodded his head. Looking back at the large gates that they were approached, he said, "We're very close. This is the largest number of Rock shinobi that has been to the village since the end of the Second Shinobi World War."

The young kunoichi smiled at that. It was truly an honor to be part of the first group to visit the Hidden Leaf Village after so long, especially since it was revered as the greatest hidden village, even if she disagreed with that part of its reputation.

Clan in black sandals, red pants with bandages underneath, a red shirt that lacked a right sleeve but had a loose, long sleeve, black gloves, and a red banded forehead protector, the young Rock kunoichi was Kurotsuchi, the granddaughter of Onoki.

"Let's stop here for a moment," Onoki suddenly said, glancing back at the two teens following them.

The first teen was Jibachi. He had shoulder length blond hair and wore glasses over his gray eyes. He was clad in a set of clothes that was nearly solid black, barring the black and yellow stripes that covered the long sleeved shirt where his wrists were. He also had a short gray cloak on that covered his shoulders down to the middle of his torso. It seemed to stop right at his elbows.

The second teen was Suzumebachi. She had short brown hair that was just a little longer than Kurotsuchi's and light gray eyes. She wore a purple kimono with pink trim and detached sleeves, a yellow obi, gray stockings, and black sandals.

Both teens were siblings. More than that, the teens were nearly considered royalty. They were the two youngest grandchildren of the First Tsuchikage. Their clan had fallen out of favor with the village in recent years, but they were still two of the Hidden Rock Village's strongest genin.

"Lord Tsuchikage, is something wrong?" Suzumebachi asked politely with a curtsy.

Kurotsuchi noticed that her grandfather smiled at that action. She rolled her eyes, knowing that he enjoyed how nervous he made some people.

"No, and I intend to prevent anything wrong from occurring in the first place," Onoki said as he looked between the two members of the Kamizuru clan. "A single member of the Aburame will be taking part in the Chunin Exams. In fact, it is the heir to the clan." He frowned when he saw them look excited. "If either one of you harms him outside of a sanctioned fight, I will have your clan officially disbanded."

"But Lord Tsuchikage-" Suzumebachi began.

"There will be no excuses. In fact, I want to make one thing clear right now. Neither one of you two may kill him, even in a sanctioned fight. If he dies by your hand, then I will show you what happens to those who disobey my orders," Onoki said flatly. Kurotsuchi could seen that there they had no doubts that he would kill them if they disobeyed his orders.

"That's out of the way now, so can we get a move on?" Kurotsuchi asked, looking at the gates of the Hidden Leaf Village once again. She was growing more and more impatient by the minute.

"You're right," Onoki said with a nod. "Let's go."

It only took them a few minutes to reach the gates, and silence filled the group when they managed it.

Onoki chuckled after a few moments, seeing that everyone's eyes were glued on the one feature that was directly on the other side of the village from the gates: Hokage Monument. More specifically, their eyes were on the stone face of Minato Namikaze.

"Try to remember that the most infamous man in our history is one of the most famous men of theirs," Onoki said with a small smile. "Don't disrespect him. In fact, don't disrespect any of their Hokage or their clans, especially the Four Noble Clans. Just because I came with you instead of Kitsuchi, it doesn't mean that I'll bail you out of trouble." He looked at Kurotsuchi for a moment at that. "Well, I won't bail all three of you out, in any case."

This earned a nervous laugh from Kurotsuchi.

"Now then, I'm going to head to see the Hokage. I could do for a game of shogi. I'm sure you three can find the Academy on your own," Onoki said as he walked ahead of them.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he walked down the street towards the Academy. His movements felt a little sluggish, and his muscles ached from his training with Kakashi. He was starting to feel that training for sixteen hours the previous day had been a bad idea, but the results of the past week had been worth it in the end.

He looked up at the sky as he thought about everything that had been happening lately. It seemed that everything was changing. At one time, he had considered one of his teammates to be his rival and the other to be his crush. After all the progress he had made, he was not sure that Sasuke was good enough to be his rival, and the way that Sakura had dismissed him out of hand in favor of Sasuke recently had begun a chain reaction that actually broke his crush on her.

That was not to say that he did not like his team, however. As much as he hated the way they dismissed him, they were his teammates and the closest thing to friends he had among people his own age.

"Hey, can you tell me where the Academy is?"

Naruto stopped at the question and turned around. Standing in front of him was a kunoichi with raven hair and pale pink eyes. His eyes flicked to her forehead protector immediately. He suppressed a frown as he saw that she was from the Hidden Rock Village. He had heard many bad things about the village when he was in the Academy, but they were allies now. He knew the old Hokage well enough to know that he would never become allies with anyone that was truly bad.

"Sure thing," Naruto said as he turned away from there. He looked down the road and pointed at the Academy. "It's that building over there. It has a tree with a swing in front of it. The Leaf insignia is above the door."

The kunoichi sighed. "Thanks for that. The last guy told us it was somewhere around here, but he didn't give very good directions. Thanks again…."

"Naruto Uzumaki," he said as he faced her with a smile.

"Thanks again, Naruto Uzumaki," she said with a smile of her own. "I'm Kurotsuchi." She then looked over her shoulder and sighed once again. "I guess I better find my teammates. There's no telling where they wandered off to."

"Sure thing," Naruto said as he made his way away from her. "Good luck in the Chunin Exams."

_She seemed nice. She's not what I expected of a Rock ninja though._

"There you are," Sakura said, breaking him from his thoughts. Looking around, he saw that he was in front of the Academy with Sakura and Sasuke. "You really need to pay attention. You must have zoned out. You didn't even look at us when you walked over here."

"Sorry," Naruto said. He inwardly cringed when he realized how forced the apology sounded. He was glad that she did not seem to notice it though.

"Are you two ready?" Sasuke asked, looking between Sakura and Naruto. Each one held up their application for the Chunin Exams at that point. Let's go then."

With that, the trio made their way to the door of the Academy so that they turn in their applications.

* * *

Naruto frowned as they walked down a hallway on the second floor and approached a crowd. He was still trying to figure out why they had gotten off at the second floor, even though room three hundred-one was on the third floor. Of course, the genjutsu on the stairwell to make it look like there were no upper floors and the genjutsu that made the room numbers on that floor read in the three hundreds had him equally puzzled.

He frowned as he wondered what would have happened if Kakashi had never trained him. He doubted that he would have noticed the genjutsu, unfortunately.

"You can drop the genjutsu. We know that the room we're suppose to report to is one floor up," Sasuke said, breaking Naruto from his previous train of thought.

_Damn it! If he knew, then why'd he tell them? We could have just walked right through the genjutsu back there, and we wouldn't have as much competition._

Naruto took a moment to survey the situation that he had not paid attention to earlier. A boy in green spandex with orange leg warmers and a girl with her hair in buns were on the ground, and they looked bruised up. Two Leaf genin were standing in front of the doorway, seeming to be blocking it.

"You noticed it too, didn't you Sakura?" Sasuke asked. "You're the one on our team with the best analytical abilities. You're talent with genjutsu is better than ours."

Naruto groaned. _And they call me a dumbass. Just go ahead and tell him all our abilities while you're at it. I know you want to say it. "I can breathe fire and make my eyes go red. I can copy techniques, and my stupid teammate can create solid clones."_

He was only slightly relieved when Sasuke did not reveal any of their other abilities.

"Of course, I noticed it back when we got on this floor," Sakura said. Naruto got the impression that she was being modest, which actually gave him a bit of confidence in her abilities after all.

"You think you're so smart," one of the Leaf genin that were blocking the door just before he sprang into action and sent a kick towards Sasuke.

Sasuke, in turn, countered with a kick of his own.

Naruto prepared to move into action at that point, but he stopped when he saw the downed Leaf genin in green spandex quickly rise to his feet and move between Sasuke and the other ninja. He caught their kicks almost effortlessly, causing Naruto's eyes to narrow.

_This kid… he's as fast as I am. He's pretty strong too. He caught Sasuke's kick with one hand. And what's more is his bruises are gone. So is his teammate's._

"Lee, what happened to the plan?" his teammate asked as she rose to her feet.

"Weren't you the one who wanted to look weak?" another Leaf genin asked as he walked out from the crowd. He had long brown hair and pale eyes that lacked pupils. The boy reminded Naruto of Hinata Hyuga, but he could tell that the boy possessed arrogance that was at least on par with Sasuke.

"I'm sorry," the boy that Naruto now knew as Lee said as he pushed aside the kicks. "I had to intervene in order to stop a fight though."

"It's fine," his kunoichi teammate said.

The Hyuga teammate suddenly looked over at Sasuke. "Tell me, what's your name?"

"Don't you know that it's rude to ask someone else's name without telling them yours?" Sasuke countered.

Naruto's eyes only stayed on Sasuke and the Hyuga for a moment. They switched to the one known as Lee as he walked up to Sakura and asked her out.

"Let's go," Naruto said with a sigh. "We don't want to be late."

That seemed to be all it took to get Sasuke and Sakura to step away from the Leaf genin that had chosen to talk to them.

They walked silently for a few minutes before reaching a large room with a balcony surrounding it. The thought of using it as an arena crossed his mind as he glanced over his shoulder and saw Lee standing on the balcony with his eyes on Sasuke.

_Let me guess… he wants to fight Sasuke?_

A few moments later, he was proven correct. As expected, Sasuke accepted the fight, and he lost.

Naruto vowed to block out everything that happened after Sasuke lost though. His sanity had trouble processing Might Guy, after all.

* * *

Naruto smiled as they finally entered the hall of the third floor and saw Kakashi waiting for them in front of the door of room three hundred-one.

"So, you all three showed up after all," Kakashi said with an eye-smile. "I guess you get to take the Chunin Exams after all."

"Huh? But you said-" Sakura began.

"We're all here, so that's all that matters," Naruto said, cutting her off. "I'm ready to take the Chunin Exams."

Kakashi chuckled and held out his hand. "I wish you guys luck."

"We'll be able to handle it," Naruto said with a grin as he gave Kakashi a thumbs up.

"Yeah, the knucklehead is right," Sasuke said.

"Fine, we can handle it," Sakura grumbled.

"Well then, you may enter," Kakashi said as he opened the door to the room for them.

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw that the room was filled with more competitors than he had expected.

_Well, this should be fun._

* * *

Author's Note: Okay, so I have to say that the chapter didn't come out as well as intended. My brain kept having a malfunction every time I tried to write certain scenes, so I cut some down and some out. Anywhere that I paraphrased, I had intended to write out completely originally. That's the reason it's shorter than I planned.

To clarify things, the fight between Sasuke and Lee was the same as in the anime/manga. The only difference was that Naruto was not involved in it at all.

Oh, and I want to explain Kurotsuchi's teammates right quick. I'm not a fan of using filler characters in my fanfics since they can easily be disproven by Kishimoto, but I decided to use Suzumebachi and Jibachi from the Search for the Bikochu Beetle filler arc as Kurotsuchi's teammates. It's better than creating an OC, and I don't feel that Akatsuchi is any less than five years older than Naruto's generation. He doesn't look old to me, but he doesn't look young either.

That's why I used them.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing.

Next chapter, you'll get to see the first test of the Chunin Exams and Onoki's first glimpse of his future grandson-in-law.


	5. The Worst Kind of Test

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This chapter should put me as the author with the most reviewed Naruto/Kurotsuchi fic on the site though.

* * *

**5. The Worst Kind of Test**

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the large number of shinobi in the room. There had to be a hundred genin in the room at the very least. Breaking from his thoughts, he followed Sasuke and Sakura into the corner of the room to their left. It seemed to be the emptiest spot of the room, so it looked like a good place to wait for the test to begin.

As soon as they reached the corner, they heard an exclamation of "Sasuke!"

Naruto sighed as he saw Ino Yamanaka appear and jump onto Sasuke's back, wrapping her arms around his neck. It was not that he was jealous of the attention or anything. Back in the Academy, he had never really paid much attention to her. However, she stood as a reminder of how almost everyone dismissed him in favor of Sasuke. Plus, her appearance seemed to anger Sakura.

"If you wanted to do something, you should have cast a genjutsu to make her thing Sasuke used a substitution for someone else," Naruto remarked, his words remaining too quiet for anyone but Sakura to hear.

She frowned and looked towards him, surprisingly ignoring Ino's actions for a moment. "How did you know that I could do that?"

"I asked Kakashi-sensei how your training was going," Naruto said with a shrug.

Sakura frowned deeper at that. It was clear that her mind was starting to work on figuring out how Kakashi knew in the first place.

"He didn't tell me how," Naruto said, seeing her train of thought. "As Kakashi says, you just need to look underneath the underneath to figure it out."

"He arranged to have me find that book," Sakura whispered in surprise.

"That definitely sounds like him," he said with a small smile.

"Are you even listening to me, forehead?" Ino asked, exasperated. "Why are you ignoring me?"

"Oh, did you say something?" Sakura asked.

Across the room, Lee's jaw dropped at hearing the line that he heard Kakashi say to Guy on numerous occasions.

"I see what you're doing! You're trying to make me think you don't care. That way, you can steal my Sasuke from under my nose," Ino said, pointing at Sakura. "I'm on to you, and it's not going to work."

"I am?" Sakura asked in surprise. "I don't remember doing that. It's a pretty dumb plan too. It sounds like something Naruto would come up with."

Naruto's hands balled into fists at that. Sure, he was never the brightest person around, but it was getting very difficult to hear things like that, especially from someone that was supposed to be his friend.

"Hey Naruto," Choji said as he walked up with Shikamaru. "It's been a while."

"So they dragged you into this thing too, eh?" Shikamaru muttered. "This is going to be troublesome."

"Hey guys," Naruto said with a light smile. "How've you guys been?"

"Eh, you know how it is with a troublesome girl around," Shikamaru said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yeah, that's always a pain in the ass," Naruto agreed, glancing at Sakura. He knew that she heard what he said, but she did not seem to have any intention of acting on it.

"It could be worse," Choji said as he opened a back of potato chips.

"Yeah, you could have Sasuke on your team," Naruto quipped with a grin.

"Or they could have you."

Naruto's attention turned to an approaching Kiba Inuzuka, who was grinning. His teammates, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga were close behind.

"Or they could have you and your mutt. Then they'd have to deal with fleas," Naruto countered, causing Choji and Shikamaru to chuckle. "How's it been, Kiba?"

Kiba smiled at Naruto, ignoring the jab at his clan's nature. "It'll be much better after I kick your ass again. Maybe you'll be a challenge this time."

"And maybe you'll find out that you're not as good as you think you are," Naruto said with a laugh.

"It's been too long," Kiba said after he finished laughing. "We've had fun times."

Naruto grinned, thinking about the times that they had hung out together when they skipped class.

"So, why are those two glaring at you?" Kiba suddenly asked, glancing behind Naruto.

"They're just being troublesome," Naruto said with a shrug, not even looking back. He knew that Sakura and Ino had to have been glaring at him at that point. He did not care though. As good as they were, he knew that he could dodge anything they threw at him.

"Maybe you guys should hold it down," a white haired Leaf genin with glasses and a set of purple clothes on said as he approached them. "I suppose you are the nine rookies that the village has been talking about. I guess I can't blame rookies for being ignorant of the situation."

Naruto frowned as he looked at the genin. He knew that all of his comrades were looking at him too.

"This isn't a picnic. The Chunin Exams are a dangerous event, and you're not helping matters by talking loudly amongst yourselves. Many of the other contestants are tense enough as it is," he said with a sigh. "Since you guys are new, maybe I can help you out a bit. My name's Kabuto Yakushi, and I guess you could call me a veteran at this."

"You've taken the Chunin Exams before?" Choji asked.

Kabuto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "This is my seventh attempt."

"Wow, they must be tough," Sakura said, seeing that Kiba was about to insult him. "I bet you've learned plenty of things in your time in the exams."

"Indeed, I have," Kabuto said as he removed a deck of cards from his hip pouch. "I've obtained a great deal of information through the Chunin Exams. To better keep the information sorted, I've imprinted them on these… my ninja info cards. They appear blank at a first glance, but my chakra reveals the information hidden on them."

"What kind of information do you have on them?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, I have plenty," Kabuto replied. "For instance, did you know that there are twenty-four teams from the Hidden Leaf, ten teams from the Hidden Sand, seven teams from the Hidden Rain, five teams from the Hidden Grass, four teams from the Hidden Waterfall, one team from the Hidden Rock, and one team from the Hidden Sound here? I have information on all one hundred fifty-six contestants, though my information on the Hidden Sound ninja isn't very good. Their village is new and small, after all."

"And if we wanted information on a specific ninja, could we get it from you?" Sasuke asked.

Kabuto grinned at that. "If you have a name, I'll look the person up. It's easier if you have the name, at least."

"What do you have on Gaara of the Sand and Rock Lee of the Hidden Leaf?" Sasuke immediately asked.

"And I'd be interested in finding out about one of the Rock ninja," Sakura suddenly said. "She had short black hair and wears mostly red clothing."

Naruto frowned at that, realizing that she must have seen him talking to Kurotsuchi earlier.

"That won't be a problem," Kabuto said as he channeled chakra into three of the cards and the information showed up on them. "First off, you have Rock Lee. He graduated a year before you guys. He's done twenty D-rank missions and eleven C-rank missions. His sensei is Might Guy, and his teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyuga. His taijutsu skills have increased dramatically over the past year, but his other skills are virtually non-existent. Like you guys, this is his first attempt at the Chunin Exams."

As everyone processed that information, Kabuto readied the next card.

"Because Gaara is a foreign ninja, my information on him isn't great, but I do have some interesting information on him. To begin with, he has completed eight C-rank missions and one B-rank mission. What's truly impressive, however, is that he has returned from all of his missions unharmed. His sensei is Baki, and his teammates are Kankuro and Temari. Wow, this is interesting. Apparently, he and his teammates are the children of the Fourth Kazekage. This is also his first time taking the Chunin Exams," Kabuto explained.

That had the attention of all nine rookies. It was unheard of for a genin to go on a B-rank mission and come out unharmed.

"Finally, we have Kurotsuchi of the Hidden Rock Village. She has completed twenty D-rank missions and ten C-rank missions. Her sensei is Kitsuchi, and her teammates are Suzumebachi and Jibachi of the Kamizuru clan. What's more is that she is the granddaughter of the Third Tsuchikage. That means that her sensei is actually her father. And this is also her first time taking the Chunin Exams," Kabuto said with a soft whistle. "So we have the children of the Fourth Kazekage, the grandchildren of the First Tsuchikage, and the granddaughter of the Third Tsuchikage in the exams this year. Things are certainly looking interesting."

_You said it._ Naruto was unsure of what could be said at that point. He was still surprised to find out that the nice kunoichi that he had met earlier was the Tsuchikage's granddaughter.

He was interupted from his thoughts as Kabuto turned to the crowd of genin and the team of Sound ninja began to attack him.

* * *

"I can't say I expected to see you today," Hiruzen said as he finished setting up a shogi board in his office. "I thought you'd be coming by next month for the Third Test."

Onoki nodded his head. "I had planned on it, but I wanted to come by sooner. I'd like to see what young Uzumaki is capable of, after all."

Hiruzen nodded his head. "So any luck with your wayward apprentice?"

Onoki sighed and shook his head. "That damned Deidara is nowhere to be found. I've had to put others in charge of the hunt. He knows me too well. I'd never find him."

"I know what that's like," Hiruzen commented as he looked over at the crystal ball that was sitting next to them. "What do you say I turn it to the first test while we play?"

"I'd like that," Onoki said as he looked at the crystal ball. He had to admit that the Hokage had an amazing jutsu. He did not have anything quite like the Crystal Ball Jutsu, after all.

* * *

Naruto looked around as he sat in the chair that he had been assigned. After the Sound genin attacked Kabuto, their proctor had showed up and reprimanded them for fighting before the exams. He had also told them to come to the front and turn in their applications so that they could be assigned a seat number for the written part of the Chunin Exams.

Already, Naruto was sweating. While even he knew that he had become more intelligent than he used to be, there was a limit to his new found intelligence. In fact, it was not as though Naruto really gained much knowledge at all recently. Kakashi had taught him to think analytically throughout his training, and that was what was responsible for his boost in intelligence.

"I am Ibiki Morino, the proctor of the first test. To make things clear, I'm going to go over the rules once. I will not repeat them," the scarred man at the front of the class said as he looked at the genin in attendance. "This is a written test, and I will tolerate no questions from you. The tests that are in front of you, face down, have the first nine questions on them. The final question will come directly from me. You will have forty-five minutes to complete the first nine questions, and then we will move on to the final question. In addition to that, the test will work on a subtraction set-up. You start out with a hundred points, and you lose ten points every time you get a question wrong. Sounds simple, right? Well, there's more. Each team will be taking the test together. If one fails, the other two fail."

Naruto's eyes widened at that. He was getting pretty worried at that point.

"Oh, and the chunin that are seated around the room will be watching you to make sure you don't cheat. If they catch you, they'll deduct twenty points from your score. If they catch you three times, then you and your team are eliminated from the Chunin Exams. So be good shinobi, and don't get caught cheating."

Naruto's eyes lit up at that part. Looking underneath the underneath, he realized that Ibiki had not told them that they could not cheat. Of course, he was still worried. When it came right down to it, he had no way to cheat. It's not like he had a handy jutsu, after all. His techniques were for combat, not spying.

"You may turn your tests over and begin," he said as he turned on the timer that was on his desk.

Naruto immediately turned his test over and began to read through the questions. He quickly found that they were questions that were beyond him.

* * *

Onoki glanced at the crystal ball at the moment. The test was interesting enough. He had figured out the purpose of it immediately, as one might expect. A frown made its way to his face though.

"Why is young Uzumaki just sitting there?" Onoki asked. "Surely he must know that he'll fail if he doesn't even try."

Hiruzen chuckled. "Well, Naruto has never been the brightest boy around. If you would rather, we could switch him for the last Uchiha in our arrangement."

Onoki laughed at that. "Not a chance. If you're willing to switch them, then he's clearly the better of the two."

With that, they resumed their game of shogi.

About fifteen minutes later, Onoki's attention turned to the crystal ball again. "He's writing something."

Hiruzen turned to the ball as well and smiled. "Since he's not actually looking at anyone else while he does that, there's probably a genjutsu on his paper to show him his answers. One of his teammates is fairly good at genjutsu, from what I hear."

"Interesting," Onoki mused, turning his attention to Kurotsuchi, who had already finished her test, thanks to her Kamizuru teammates.

* * *

Naruto looked from his completed test to Ibiki, resolved to thank Sakura after this test was completed. It had surprised him when she cast a genjutsu on his test, but it had been useful nonetheless. It was the same genjutsu that was used to make the room downstairs appear to be room three hundred-one.

Now, all he had to do was wait. Fortunately, he only had to wait about fifteen minutes.

"Okay, we will start the tenth question now," Ibiki said. "Before we get to it… I'd like to go over some added rules for this question."

_New rules?_

"For this question, you must decide whether or not you will even take it."

"What happens if we choose not to take it?" Sakura asked immediately.

"If you choose not to take it, then your points will be reduced to zero. That will cause you, along with your teammates, to fail," Ibiki said.

"Why wouldn't we take it then?" Kiba asked.

"That brings me to the second rule," Ibiki said. "If you choose to take it and you answer incorrectly, then you will fail and lose the right to ever take the Chunin Exams again."

That single rule filled the room with shock and outrage.

"What kind of stupid rule is that?" Kiba asked. "There are guys here that have taken the exams before."

"You guys are simply unlucky. This year, I make the rules," Ibiki said. "I am giving you a way out though. Those that aren't confident enough can choose not to take it… and try again in six months."

"Those that do not wish to take it, raise your right hand. Once your number is confirmed, leave," Ibiki said. He watched for the next several minutes as examinees quit, one after another.

Naruto saw that quite a few people looked nervous in the room and on the edge of leaving, so he did the only thing that he could to calm the nerves of the ones that he wanted to stay in. After all, he wanted his friends to make it further.

"You're pretty good, but you're gonna have to try a hell of a lot harder to make me give up," Naruto said as he slapped the top of his desk with his right hand. "I never give up. That's just not the type of person I am."

Ibiki frowned as he saw everyone determination fill a large number of the candidates. "I hear you want to be Hokage. How are you going to achieve that if you can never become a chunin?"

"If I fail, and that's a big if, then I'll just go straight to Hokage from genin," Naruto said with fire in his eyes.

"Good decisions… now to those of you still remaining, I congratulate you on passing the first test." Ibiki said.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. "What about the tenth question?"

Ibiki did something far more terrifying to the genin than any torture could have been. He smiled. "There never was such a thing… or you could say that those two choices were the tenth question," Ibiki said.

"What were the first nine questions for then?" Temari asked. "Were they pointless?" She did not like the prospect of pointlessly taking an exam.

"No, they were not pointless. They served their intended purpose," Ibiki said. "The questions were not the type of questions that a mere genin could answer. Because of that, I'm sure that you all came to the conclusion that you had to cheat. Basically, the premise of this test is to cheat. As cheating targets, we had several chunin sit in with you that knew all of the answers so that you guys would have someone to cheat off of."

"Those that cheated poorly, failed of course," Ibiki said as he removed his bandana. "Because in times, information is more important than life… and on missions and the battlefield, people risk their lives to get their hands on it."

_His head… those are horrible burns, screw holes, and scars… those are the after effects of torture._

"If the enemy or a third party notices you, then there is no guarantee that the information will be accurate. I want you to remember this. Information in your hands can be a powerful weapon for your comrades and for the village," Ibiki said. "So we had you gather information through cheating. This clearly separated those that did not have the right abilities from those that did."

"But I still don't understand the final question," Sakura said.

"But the tenth question is the true purpose of the test," Ibiki said with a knowing smile.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Let me explain the tenth question, which was a take it or don't take it decisio,." Ibiki said. "Obviously, these are painful choices. Those who choose the latter fail along their teammates. Those who choose to take it could lose their chance to ever take the test again. It is a true leap of faith."

"Let me provide you with a scenario. As chunin, you are given a mission to steal a secret document. The amount of ninja, their abilities, and a large number of other things are all unknown to you. Of course, there could be traps set around you. Do you accept or reject the mission? Can you avoid the dangerous mission just because you don't want to die or let your comrades get hurt?" Ibiki asked. "The answer is no. No matter what the danger, there are missions that you can't avoid. The ability to be courageous and survive any hardship… this is the ability needed to become a chunin. Those who can't put their destinies on the line… who cling to the uncertain future of 'there's always next year'… and then walk away from their chance… those pieces of trash who can only make such cowardly decisions… they don't deserve the right to become chunin. That's how I feel. Those who chose to take it… those who answered the tough tenth question correctly… you will be able to survive any troubles that you face in the future. You have made it through the entrance. The first test of the Chunin Exams is now finished. I wish you guys luck."

The moment that those words left Ibiki's words, a cannon ball shot through one of the windows, shattering the window. The cannon unrolled in front of Ibiki to reveal a special jonin standing in front of a banner that read: Anko Mitarashi, Proctor of the Second Test. The special jonin was wearing a tan trench coat, a tan skirt, shin guards, and a suit of ninja mesh. She had purple hair in a spiky pony tail and brown eyes that lacked pupils.

"You guys, this is no time to be celebrating. I am the proctor of the second test, Anko Mitarashi. Let's go now," she said. "Follow me!"

"You have bad timing," Ibiki commented.

"Eighty-one… Ibiki, you left twenty-sseven teams?" Anko said. "Your test was way too easy this time!"

"There are a lot of outstanding ones this time," Ibiki said.

"That's fine… I'll at least cut them in half by the end of the second test," Anko said. "Ah, I'm getting excited. I'll explain everything once we've changed places. Follow me."

Naruto gulped nervously at that.

* * *

Onoki looked at the crystal ball surprised. Evidentally, he had made a good choice in arranging the marriage between Naruto Uzumaki and Kurotsuchi. Apparently, he possess charisma and incredible determination. In all honesty, it reminded the old Tsuchikage of Minato Namikaze.

"He's an interesting boy," Hiruzen said with a smile. "This is where we stop watching him for now though. The second test will last for five days, and it will be a survival test."

"Very well then," Onoki said as he nodded his head thoughtfully. "Perhaps we should talk more about what our plans for Naruto and Kurotsuchi are then. After all, we have yet to discuss when she is to join your village and when they are to be married."

"Let's discuss that then," Hiruzen agreed. "But after another game."

"Sure," Onoki said as he began to place his pieces back in their spots.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. It's long by my standards, even though not everyone will agree with me there.

Just to make it clear: I'm intentionally keeping the details of Hiruzen and Onoki's conversation secrets.

Oh, and I also want to explain why Kurotsuchi didn't really show up in this chapter. I write fanfics just like I'd write a book now. That means that I won't be switching point of view in a scene. You'll never here the thoughts of two characters in one scene as a result. That's why I pretty much only showed Naruto's thoughts.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.


	6. The Forest of Death

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**6. The Forest of Death**

Anko Mitarashi led the remaining candidates to a fenced in forest with signs that warned them of danger plastered on the chain linked fence. There was a booth right behind her when she stopped to face the examinees.

"Welcome to the stage for the second test, Training Grounds Number Forty-Four… also known as the Forest of Death," Anko said. "You'll soon find out why it's called the Forest of Death"

_I suppose we will._ Though he was not worried about the test, he had a feeling that it was best not to brag about his confidence. He did not want to paint a target on him, after all.

"Now, before we start the second test, there's something I have to pass out. You must sign these waivers," Anko said as she held up a stack of papers. "There will be deaths in this one, and if you don't sign these, then it will be all my responsibility."

"I'm going to explain the second test now. You can sign the waivers when I am done explaining it. Once you sign the waivers, each team will check in at the both behind me.

"Simply put, you will attempt the ultimate survival test. First, I'll explain the area in which it will take place. There are forty-four locked gates around the area. Almost all of the area is composed of forest with a tower in the center and a river that divides the forest in two and runs underneath the tower. From any of the gates to the tower is a distance of approximately six miles.

"During the survival test, you will be asked to complete a certain task using your weapons, tools, and jutsu. You will compete in a no rules scroll battle.

"You will fight over these two scrolls: the Scroll of Heaven and the Scroll of Earth. Thirteen of the teams will start out with the Scroll of Heaven. Thirteen of the teams will start out with the Scroll of Earth. Your team must make it to the tower with both scrolls.

"There's a time limit too. The test will last exactly five days long. All of your survival needs are things that you will have to worry about. I'd recommend that you watch out for man-eating beasts, poisonous insects, and poisonous plants.

"The possibility of thirteen teams passing is very unlikely by the way. As the days go on, the distance to the goal will become farther and thee time to rest will become shorter. The area is crawling with enemies too, so you won't get much sleep. So not only will some fail by losing the scroll, but some will die from the harshness of the course.

"Now I'll talk about what will disqualify you. First, those that don't make it to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit will be disqualified. Second, those who lose a teammate will be disqualified. As a rule, you will be in the forest for five days, so quitting in the middle is impossible. The final rule is that you must not look inside either scroll until you make it to the tower. A chunin will be asked to handle classified information. This is to test your worthiness. That is it for the explanations.

"Exchange the three forms for your scroll. Then, choose a gate to get ready for the start.

"My parting advice to you is to try not to die," Anko said.

With that, everyone began to sign their waivers and turn them in. The waivers were turned in behind a closed booth so that the other examinees could not see which teams got what scrolls and who actually carried the scroll.

Once everyone had their scrolls, Anko said, "Follow a chunin and go to your gates. We will start in thirty minutes."

* * *

Close to thirty minutes later, Team Seven reached gate number twenty-seven. Sasuke was carrying the Scroll of Heaven, though Naruto had originally been given it by the chunin that was passing them out.

"Begin!" Anko said. Everyone heard her.

The chunin with Team Seven quickly unlocked the gate and allowed them to step through it. The instant that they were inside the forest, the chunin locked the gate back.

As soon as they entered, Sasuke said, "We should head towards the center of the forest and try to get a scroll as close to the tower as we can."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Sakura said with a smile.

Naruto just nodded in agreement. He did not feel like saying anything. From his experience, offering suggestions that opposed Sasuke's only resulted in rejection.

"Let's try to stick to a slow enough pace that we don't get tired quickly," Sasuke said as he began to head through the forest. Sakura instantly began to follow him with Naruto behind her.

* * *

About thirty minutes into their journey through the Forest of Death, Naruto said, "Let's stop for a minute. I have to go."

Sakura looked at him in confusion.

Stopping in his position, Sasuke said, "Don't go too far. It would be a shame if you were attacked while you were… relieving… yourself and had no one to come to your rescue."

Sakura faintly blushed at the realization of what Naruto had meant.

Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke's statement and began to walk through the forest a little ways away from them. Once he was a few hundred yards from his teammates, he watered a tree. Once he was done, he began to walk back towards Sasuke and Sakura, but he stopped after a few steps.

Standing in front of him was Sasuke.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Sakura?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Right… I'll see you when you're done, Naruto," Sasuke said as he turned around.

As soon as Sasuke turned around, Naruto channeled chakra to his feet and dashed towards him. He planted his fist firmly in the back of Sasuke's head, causing him to be engulfed in a cloud of smoke. In Sasuke's place was a Rain ninja.

"How did you know that I wasn't Sasuke?" the ninja asked as he rose to his feet and looked at Naruto.

"Sasuke doesn't say my name like you do. He pauses for a millisecond after the first syllable of my name. I don't suppose you thought to watch us for a while beforehand though," Naruto said as he drew a kunai and jumped on top of the ninja. He slammed the kunai down on him, but he soon found himself on top of a log. Closing his eyes, he paid close attention to his senses. It seemed that he had lost track of the ninja.

Forming the ram hand sign, Naruto quickly used the Body Flicker Technique in quick succession twice, appearing in front of Sakura, surprising her and Sasuke.

"What's my name?" Naruto asked when he appeared.

"Naruto, what's going on?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Your name is Naruto," Sasuke answered, seeing that Naruto would explain everything in due time.

"On my way back, I was attacked by a Rain ninja that transformed into Sasuke. He did not realize what I was doing though. He said that he would see me when I was done, even though I was clearly walking back here. He also said my name like Sakura says it, not like how you say it," Naruto quickly explained. "Also, his shuriken holster was on his left leg instead of his right leg."

"It seems that we will need to come up with a password in case we get separated. The next time something like that happens, they may have studied us beforehand," Sasuke said.

"I agree," Naruto said as he took a deep breath. He could see the use in having such a password. After all, it was quite likely that Team Seven would get separated again. It would have been bad if the Rain ninja had actually been competent. Without a password, he could have taken Naruto's place with the team and attacked them when they were not expecting it.

"What should the password be?" Sakura asked.

"This will be the password: When does a ninja strike? A ninja waits until the time is right… when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard… when his weapons lay forgotten in the stillness of the night… that is the time when a ninja strikes," Sasuke said.

Sakura mouthed the password three times and then said, "Okay, I got it."

"Can't it be something shorter? I'll never remember that. It's too long," Naruto said.

"No, it is the password. If you can't remember it, then don't get separated from us," Sasuke said.

"Fine, I'll memorize it," Naruto said.

Sakura looked skeptical at the prospect of him memorizing the password, but she did not say anything about it.

"Now, let's go. We should pick up the pace," Sasuke said as he began to run through the forest with his teammates behind him.

The entire time, they remained unaware that they were being watched and followed me someone.

* * *

About fifteen minutes later, Naruto was flung through the forest as a sudden gust of wind hit him and his teammates. He was at the very center of the blast of wind though, so Sakura and Sasuke were just thrown to the side while Naruto was actually sent flying through the forest. Though he could not tell how far it sent him flying, he knew that he could not see his teammates any more.

He was only stopped as he hit a tree, sending sharp pains through his back. If it was not for the fact that he was so durable, such a thing would have likely knocked him unconscious.

Rising to his feet, Naruto prepared to run back to his team, but something stood in his way. A giant snake stood before him, its eyes focused on him as though it was going to eat him.

His hands quickly flashed through a series of hand signs as he inhaled a deep breath. As the snake moved towards him, he exhaled, releasing his Wind Style: Great Breakthrough on the massive reptile. Worry filled him when it only pushed the snake back ten feet at most.

_Shit… this isn't good._

He quickly channeled chakra to his feet and jumped into the air, allowing him to dodge the snake's strike with ease.

In the air, he readied his Wind Style: Great Breakthrough again and released it directly on top of the snake. Unlike before, the attack was effective, causing the snake to flatten down to the ground. He quickly began clapping his hands together in rapid succession, releasing his Wind Style: Gale Palm down on top of the snake in the form of a torrent of wind blasts.

While one might not think that such an attack would be effective, it was. Because the snake was lying flat on the ground, the repeated shots of wind actually cut a hole through the snake. It worked on the same principle that you could hurt someone by repeatedly poking them in the exact same spot.

Naruto quickly removed a kunai with a paper bomb wrapped around its handle from his pack and threw it into the hole that he had blasted through the snake. He then used the Body Flicker Technique to get out of range before the snake blew up.

"Well, that was a pain in the ass," he muttered. "Now, I need to find Sasuke and Sakura."

Before he could take a step in their direction, however, he heard the sound of fighting from behind him.

_Sasuke should be able to handle it. I'll check this out. Maybe I can pick up the other scroll, and we can head to the tower._

With that, Naruto headed away from his teammates.

* * *

The scene that Naruto came on to surprised him. The team from the Hidden Rock Village and the team from the Hidden Sound Village were fighting. To be more precise, they had already fought, and it looked like the minor village had come out on top.

Kurotsuchi's teammates, he remembered that Kabuto said that their names were Suzumebachi and Jibach, were lying on the ground unconscious. Kurotsuchi, however, was sitting up against a tree as the Sound ninja that did not look like a mummy approached her.

_He's going to kill her._ He was not sure how he knew that, but he was certain of it. _I won't let that happen._

Naruto quickly threw a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it at the approaching Sound ninja, but he just turned and shot some kind of air blast from his right hand to deflect it.

"Who's there?" he asked, looking around.

"That would be me," Naruto said as he stepped out from behind the tree, anger in his eyes. "Leave now, and I won't destroy you."

"You're not so tough," the Sound ninja that looked like a mummy said as he suddenly appeared before Naruto and threw a punch at him.

Naruto easily dodged the punch, but he knew that he had screwed up. He remembered seeing what that guy did to Kabuto, despite the fact that he dodged the punch as well.

He collapsed to the ground as he emptied the contents of his stomach.

"Since you wanted to play here, why don't we let you watch as your friend dies?" he asked rhetorically as he grabbed Naruto by the hair and raised his head.

"We could have a little fun. Then he'd really have to suffer," the one who was approaching Kurotsuchi said, filling Naruto with further anger. He could not make himself move though.

"I'm not amused," their apparent leader said. "We're supposed to kill her, and be quick about it. After that, we have to go after the Uchiha."

That was the last straw for Naruto.

_Do you want to kill them?_

The dark voice echoed through his mind, shocking him.

_Yes, let me kill them. I want their blood._

As bloodthirsty as the thought was, Naruto could not deny that it was true.

_Then taste my power._

Red chakra exploded from Naruto, throwing the Sound ninja that held him back. As he moved forward, he found that he was at one hundred percent again. It was as though he had never been hit by his enemy's Melody Arm.

Before any of the Sound ninja knew what was going on, Naruto was standing between the Sound ninja and Kurotsuchi. He backhanded the Sound ninja, rocketing him into a tree. The way he hit a nearby tree and the way that his body gave off a sickening crunch, it was easy to see that he was dead.

"I'll kill you for that," the Sound ninja that had defeated him a short time ago said as he attacked Naruto from behind.

The blond effortlessly caught the boy's punch, twisted his arm behind his back, and snapped his neck. The entire process took roughly two seconds.

Naruto then looked to the last Sound ninja, a kunoichi, with his crimson eyes.

That was the last thing she saw. For the next second, Naruto had cut her neck open with his claw-like fingernails.

With the last Sound ninja dead, Naruto took a deep breath. His eyes changed back to normal, as did the whisker marks on his face and his fingernails.

He looked back at Kurotsuchi and managed a weak smile. He saw something in her eyes at that moment. She was both shocked and grateful.

"Don't die," he said quietly. "Don't let this be for nothing."

With those words, he searched the bodies of the Sound ninja for their scroll and walked away.

He wanted to stay back and help her get her teammates to shelter, but he was scared too. She had seen him use the fox's power. The only other people who had seen him do it were all dead: Haku and the Sound team.

Glancing at the scroll before he got out of sight, he allowed a small smile to show on his face. It was the one that they needed.

* * *

It was about an hour later that Naruto stumbled upon where Sakura and Sasuke were. They had managed to find a small cave to hide in. It had actually been fairly easy to find them, but he had wanted to get washed up first.

As he entered the cave, Sakura ran up to him and hugged him, much to his surprise.

"Where have you been?" she asked, crying. "We were attacked by this guy that had to have been stronger than any genin. He beat us up and bit Sasuke on the neck. He's been unconscious ever since."

Naruto frowned as he crouched next to Sasuke. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. I though you guys could handle whatever was thrown at you. I was blown away near a fight, and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to get the other scroll."

His eyes were on the strange mark that was on Sasuke's neck at that moment. He resolved to find out what it meant. There was something sinister about it.

"I'm sorry," Sakura said. "Sasuke sacrificed the scroll to try to save us. We don't have both."

"Yeah, we do," Naruto said with a sigh as he removed a Heaven and an Earth scroll from his hip pouch. "Sasuke never had the real scroll. I swapped it with a transformed shadow clone. That's why I got it and then handed it to Sasuke. I didn't want anyone to know who had the real one."

Though he had expected her to get upset by his actions, Sakura actually smiled.

"I'm sorry for everything, Naruto," she said.

"We're teammates," Naruto said, as though it was all that needed to be said. And in his eyes, it was. "Let's rest for a little while. We'll head to the tower once we're rested. If Sasuke's not awake by then, I'll have a shadow clone carry him."

* * *

Author's Note: Okay, so I want to say a few things now.

First off, I'll be working on a new fanfic soon. I've been getting a great deal of inspiration for one certain idea, and I think it could be pretty good.

Secondly, I'm not abandoning this or putting this on hiatus. People seem to think that's my plan every time I decide to start another fic. As many of you have noticed, I've changed as a writer since I wrote Consequences. Being able to balance stories better is one such change. Of course, updates will naturally slow down, but that's expected.

The idea that I'm leaning towards at the moment in essentially a re-work of Betrayal. It would center around Naruto as a freelance shinobi, among other things. And no, it wouldn't actually be a banishment fic. I call that type of story a "self-exile" fic.

The pairing for the idea is not certain, but I can say for certain that it would not be Fu, who was the pairing choice in Betrayal.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.


	7. The Preliminaries

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**7. The Preliminaries**

Naruto sighed as he stood amongst the crowd of the twenty-one genin that had passed the survival test in the Forest of Death.

Though the second test had just ended, Naruto had been there with his team for three days. He would have been there longer than that, but trouble had arisen when Sasuke had finally woken up. He had gone berserk, attacking him for no reason. The way that he reeked with foul chakra had been quite unnerving as well. In the end, Naruto had been forced to draw on the fox's chakra to restrain him. He was thankful that Sakura had been away, getting firewood, during the event. It seemed that Sasuke had no memory of it, if his confusion at waking up, bound with ninja wire, said anything about.

In all honesty, Naruto was bored at that moment, as he had been ever since the end of the second test. He had been forced to sit around the tower. At least Sasuke had gotten to get away for a little while. Kakashi had taken him somewhere without an explanation. Coincidentally, Naruto had noticed that the mark on Sasuke's neck had a circle around it now. He could not help but wonder if there was some connection there.

Looking around at the teams in the room, Naruto smiled. His fellow rookies had passed, along with Lee's team, Kurotsuchi's team, Gaara's team, and Kabuto's team.

"First off," Anko Mitarashi said, drawing everyone's attention to the space in front of the small crowd. Behind her, Naruto could see people that he presumed to be the jonin-sensei of the teams that passed, along with the Hokage and a short man that wore brown robes similar to those worn by the Hokage. He was not all that well informed, but he would have been willing to bet that the man was the Tsuchikage. "I'd like to say this: congratulations on passing the second test. You've all done well. So now, I pass on the torch to Lord Hokage. He will explain the third test."

Nodding, Hiruzen Sarutobi walked over and stood where Anko had been standing.

"Before I explain the test, there is something that I'd like you all to know. It concerns the true reason for this exam. Why do we have allied countries taking the exams together? The answers that are most often given are to promote friendship among the countries and raise the level of shinobi. I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning. The exam is a replacement for war among the allied countries. If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the Chunin Exams were made into an international event," Hiruzen said.

"I thought this was about becoming chunin," Sakura said.

"It is a fact that who becomes chunin is dependent on the Chunin Exams, but the exam has another side where each country's shinobi risks their own lives to protect their land's prestige. Watching this third exam will be leaders and influential individuals from many countries who make up the clients of shinobi. The leaders of the countries will be there to watch each of your battles. If the strength of a country is clear, then that country will receive more clients. Conversely, if the weakness of s country is clear, then that country will lose clients. This will signal to potential enemy countries that 'our country has this much power', so it will send a political message to the outsiders," Hiruzen said.

"But why do we have to risk our lives in battle?" Temari asked.

"The strength of the country is the strength of the village. The strength of the village is the strength of the shinobi. And a shinobi's true strength is born only through life risking battles. This exam is a place to see each country's strength and to show off your own strength. It only has meaning because lives are at risk, and that's why those that have come before you have fought in the Chunin Exams for this dream. That is meaningful," Hiruzen said.

"But why do you say stuff about it being for friendship then?" Tenten asked.

"I said it in the beginning. I don't want you to confuse the purpose of this. By losing life and establishing balance… that is the shape of friendship in the world of the shinobi. Before we begin the third test, I will tell you one more thing. This is not just a test… this is a life risking battle with your dreams and your country's prestige on the line," Hiruzen said.

"Can we get on to the life risking battles now?" Gaara asked.

"Yes, I'd like to explain the third test, but-" Hiruzen said.

"Actually… I am sorry Lord Hokage… from here on as the proctor, will you allow me to explain everything." a sick looking special jonin said, coughing occasionally.

"By all means," Hiruzen said.

"Hello everyone, I am Hayate Gekko, and I will be the proctor of the third test. Before the test, I would like to do something."

"What?" Kiba asked.

"It's a preliminary round for the third test to decide who gets to participate in the main event." Hayate said.

"Preliminary… what do you mean?" Shikamaru asked.

"Why can't all the people here participate in the next test?" Sakura asked.

"The first and second tests have been far too easy this year… we have a bit too many people remaining. According to the rules of the Chunin Exams, we have to have a preliminary round to reduce the number of participants for the third test. As Lord Hokage mentioned earlier, there will be guests at the third test, so we are limited in time to have the fights." Hayate said. "So anyways, those who aren't feeling well and those who feel like quitting after hearing these explanations, please step forward now. We will be starting the preliminary round immediately."

Only one person stepped forward at that: Kabuto Yakushi. When questioned about his sudden withdrawal, he cited that he still had not recovered from the Sound ninja attack that took place before the first test.

"We can begin the preliminary then. This preliminary will consist of one on one fighting. You will basically fight as in a real life confrontation. Since we have exactly twenty entrants, we will conduct ten matches. The winners will advance to the third test," Hayate said. "There are basically no rules. The fight continues until one of you dies, is knocked out, or admits defeat. If you don't want to die, then quickly acknowledge your defeat. If I decide that the winner has been clearly established though, I will jump in to stop things. We don't want to pointlessly increase the amount of corpses after all. And the object that controls your destiny is… this electronic scoreboard. It will show the match-ups for each battle. Now, let's announce the two names for the first fight."

An electronic scoreboard was revealed above the statue of the ram hand sign that was behind him. It immediately said: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Kankuro.

"If everyone other than the two competitors named on the board could move to the balcony, it would be greatly appreciated."

Naruto watched intently as his teammate's match began. Unfortunately, it was open just as fast. Apparently, Sasuke did not want to play around. He dashed forward and punched Kankuro in the face with enough force to knock him out before the Sand genin could even reach for the bandaged object on his back.

"The winner, by knockout, is Sasuke Uchiha," Hayate called out as medics came to removed Kankuro from the arena.

"You don't want to show much, do you?" Naruto jokingly asked as Sasuke came up to the balcony. The Uchiha did not say anything though.

Naruto sighed and looked up at the board at that point. It looked like Kiba had to fight the female Sand ninja, Temari.

If Naruto thought Sasuke's match was fast, then he needed to come up with a whole new word for that match. Temari just pulled the fan off her back, swung it, and send a blast of wind from it that slammed Kiba into the wall with enough force to know him out.

_Geez… these guys aren't playing around._

Naruto looked at the board again at that point, and then his eyes went to Kurotsuchi. It seemed that her teammate was up against Shino Aburame.

The only male member of Kurotsuchi's team, Jibachi, made his way to the arena without hesitation. He looked eager to fight Shino, which surprised him.

Unlike the two previous matches, the match between those two did not end quickly. It was also fairly boring, if Naruto were to state his opinion. Shino would send out his bugs, and Jibachi would send out bees.

Naruto did manage to learn that the bees turned to honey when destroyed though, which only happened when Shino tried to throw shuriken at them.

After ten minutes of bug maneuvering, Shino covered Jibachi in his bugs, which Kakashi had explained the nature of to everyone present earlier on in the fight, and Hayate declared Shino the winner.

Another quick match followed that. Kurotsuchi's other teammate, Suzumebachi, fought Ino Yamanaka. She tricked Ino into using her Mind Transfer Jutsu on a honey clone. Before Ino's soul could return to her body, the Rock ninja had a kunai to her throat.

The four earlier matches were forgotten as Naruto saw the two names show up on the scoreboard for the next fight.

He glanced at Sakura for a moment, and then his eyes went to Kurotsuchi. His old crush was set to fight the Rock ninja that he had helped a few days back. A strange sensation filled him as he thought about Kurotsuchi. There was something that he liked about her, even if he did not know what it was.

_Perhaps it's because she saw me use the fox's chakra and didn't even look repulsed,_ he mused.

"Good luck," Naruto whispered. As the words came out, he realized something peculiar. They were not directed at Sakura, even if she was the only one that heard them.

* * *

Kurotsuchi jumped down to the arena, her eyes glancing from Naruto Uzumaki to Sakura Haruno. From what she had learned, they were teammates. She frowned at the thought of upsetting the one who saved her life in the past week, but she shook it off. She knew that she could not worry about what he thought of her. They were not even friends, after all.

She could see his lips move. Her natural talent for reading lips revealed that he was wishing someone luck. The truly confusing part was that his eyes were on her as he said it, but he had to have been saying it to his comrade.

"Are you ready?" Hayate asked as Sakura entered the arena. Both kunoichi nodded their heads. "You may begin."

Kurotsuchi was caught off guard as Sakura charged towards her, chakra clearly speeding up her dash. A mere second before Sakura reached her, Kurotsuchi side-stepped the attack and hit her with an uppercut that sent her flying a dozen feet backwards. The pink haired girl literally bounced a little as she hit the ground.

"Is that all you've got?" Kurotsuchi asked in disbelief. "How are you so weak if your teammate is so strong?"

She noticed various people in the area look towards Sasuke after she said that, but she inwardly scoffed. As far as she was concerned the Uchiha was nothing. She had seen Naruto Uzumaki in action. He had been disabled by a jutsu that she had been hit with and knew the full power of, and he had still risen to his feet and killed three enemy shinobi. But more than that, he had the heart of a hero. He had stepped in to save someone who was merely allied with his village, despite the fact that he had only met her once before and had no reason to do anything. He had not even demanded her scroll afterwards.

"I'm not weak," Sakura said as she rose to her feet.

Kurotsuchi laughed as she looked at her opponent. "I'm an earth user. In this room, most of my jutsu is impossible to use. The floor is too thick for almost any of my jutsu to work, after all. So, I'm actually handicapped. Perhaps I need to tie both hands behind my back to handicap myself enough so we can have a fair fight."

Several people laughed at that remark, and embarrassment was clear on Sakura's face. Anger soon replaced it though.

Sakura's hands flipped through a set of hand signs as she said, "I'll show you my true strength."

Kurotsuchi nearly rolled her eyes as a low level genjutsu hit her. It was the simplest genjutsu that she knew of, the Demonic Illusion: Death Mirage Jutsu. She had broken it before it had truly ever set in.

Still, she pretended that it had never been dispelled.

Sakura charged at her, prepared to finish her off as she was distracted by the genjutsu.

_Let's see how you like Dad's jutsu, the Earth Style: Rock Fist._

Kurotsuchi stepped to the side as her chakra came through the chakra points in her right arm and formed a gauntlet of rock. Sakura was so caught off guard that she did not even stop her charge.

The Rock kunoichi sent her fist flying towards the pink-haired kunoichi's stomach with all the speed she could muster.

Sakura was knocked unconscious immediately, and her body was sent flying backward from the sheer force of the strike. It truly would have done some damage to her if she hit the ground from the height that she flew, but Naruto Uzumaki appeared in the arena and caught her effortlessly.

Her eyes met Naruto's, and she felt shock fill her. She expected to see hate, or anger at the very least. Instead, she saw the one thing that she had never expected. She saw pride. He was proud of what she did.

_This boy… he doesn't make any sense._

She walked towards the stairs to the balcony as she was declared the winner by knockout.

As she reached the balcony, she looked at the board and allowed a smile to show.

It read: Naruto Uzumaki vs. Rock Lee.

* * *

"Good luck," Sasuke said, looking at Naruto. "You'll need it. He beat me last time, and you can't have gotten stronger since then."

"You're assuming that I wasn't stronger than you before the test," Naruto said as he jumped down to the arena. He allowed a small smile to appear on his face as Lee jumped down.

"I've wanted to fight you for a while, Rock Lee," Naruto said as he dropped into the Strong Fist fighting stance. He saw surprise show on Lee's face at the stance.

"I am eager as well, Naruto Uzumaki," Lee said with a smile.

"You may begin," Hayate said.

In an instant, Naruto and Lee moved forward with incredible speed.

The two met in the center of the arena and began to exchange punches and kicks. The entire time that they engaged each other entirely in taijutsu, neither one landed a single hit. In addition to that, their speed remained even.

"There's no way," Tenten said from the balcony. "Lee should be blowing this guy away with his speed."

_Maybe I should show everyone my true speed._

With a grin, Naruto disappeared in a swirl of leaves. He appeared at the other side of the arena with his hands in the ram hand sign. "Release," he whispered.

He felt his entire body become light as the word was spoken. The feeling could only be described as walking through water and suddenly having the water disappear.

"That is not nice," Lee commented. "I thought we were having fun."

"Don't blink," Naruto said with a grin before he dashed forward.

The sheer speed that Naruto moved at made him literally disappear from the sight of almost every genin present. All of the jonin present could see something different though. They could see that his speed doubled.

* * *

"What happened?" Onoki asked, looking over at Hiruzen. The sudden boost of speed that Naruto experienced truly surprised him. "He didn't remove weights or anything."

"Kakashi must have him wearing resistance seals," Hiruzen mused. "They're an invention of the Fourth Hokage. They make your body feel as though you're in water. It slows you down and makes your movements feel sluggish. By training to the point that you don't notice the effects any further, your speed increases."

_This is incredible. It seems that Uzumaki is a truly skilled fighter._

* * *

Kurotsuchi allowed a small smile to grace her face at the sheer speed Naruto showed. It was not quite at the same level as his speed from when he killed the team from the Hidden Sound Village, but it was impressive nonetheless.

"You seem to be very fond of that boy," Suzumebachi commented, smirking as she saw Kurotsuchi blush.

"Shut up. I'm trying to watch this fight," Kurotsuchi said, leaning over the railing in order to avoid her deepening blush.

"Whatever you say," Suzumebachi said with an even bigger smirk.

* * *

Naruto was dominating the fight, to put it plainly. He thoroughly beat Lee around the arena, his speed double that of the older boy.

Something made him stop his assault and jump back.

_This might be a stupid idea, but…._

"Why'd you stop?" Lee asked, panting.

"Stop holding back," Naruto said with fire in his eyes. "I can tell you're wearing weights. Take them off, and fight me."

* * *

Back on the balcony, Kakashi slapped himself across the face. He could not believe that Naruto was doing something so stupid. He could have won if he had continued on the path he was on. If Guy's student truly was wearing weights, then he would never have been able to get them off if Naruto had kept it up.

"Your student is very youthful, Kakashi," Guy said with a huge smile that made the masked ninja cringe.

_Naruto, you better not screw up._

He glanced over to Sasuke momentarily. The last Uchiha with jealous of Naruto's speed. He could see that clearly. He had expected it though. He had hoped that Naruto would not use his full speed, but that was an impossibility from the moment that he was set to fight Guy's look-alike.

His eyes wandered back to the fight just as Lee dropped weights off to the side that left small craters.

_Damn, Guy went overboard again. How's Naruto going to handle this?_

* * *

Naruto had been freaked out when he saw Lee drop the incredible heavy weights, but he had tried to keep his cool. And then he saw Lee's speed.

Lee was three times faster without the weights than he was with them, if Naruto's estimates were correct.

The tide of the battle was reversed as Lee beat Naruto down over and over.

Standing away from him, Lee said, "Please forfeit, Naruto. You have proven yourself. I do not wish to hurt you further."

Naruto carefully stood up and looked at Lee. He hated to do it, but he knew that he had no choice.

"Lee, you're an amazing shinobi. I'd be foolish to keep letting you beat me around the arena," Naruto said with a frown. He looked to Hayate and inhaled a deep breath. Suddenly, his hands flashed through a series of hand signs and he turned his head to Lee, who had just looked back at him. Shock was in his eyes.

Naruto's Wind Style: Great Breakthrough slammed Lee into the wall behind him, but that was not the end of it. Naruto quickly began to use his Wind Style: Wind Bullet repeatedly, sending small blasts of air in rapid succession. The blasts hit Lee's arms, legs, stomach, chest, and shoulders until Hayate's voice cut in.

"I declare Naruto Uzumaki the winner. Cease your attacks."

Naruto nodded his head and fell to the ground, sitting down. He breathed heavily, smiling lightly as Lee emerged from the small hole in the wall that Naruto had made with him.

He was truly relieved to see that Hayate had ended the match before serious damage was dealt.

* * *

"That was a very underhanded move," Guy said with a frown.

"I know," Kakashi said, pride filling him. "Naruto's starting to think like a ninja."

"Is Naruto's fight already over with?" Sakura asked as she began to stir.

"Yeah, he beat Rock Lee," Kakashi answered.

Sakura immediately sat up at that. "But Kakashi-sensei, how's that possible? Not even Sasuke could beat him."

Sasuke's hands balled into fists at that. Naruto had proven that he was the strongest member of Team Seven, and he did not like it.

* * *

"He's a wind user," Onoki mused, looking at the Hokage. "That was an impressive fight, even if he did make things harder on himself than need be.

"That's very true," Hiruzen agreed.

* * *

From her spot, Kurotsuchi smiled at seeing Naruto come out as the victor. She had been startled by the difference in speed of the two boys that had just fought, and she would have to be lying to claim that she had not worried that Naruto would lose.

The rather underhanded tactic that he had used had let him ignore the difference in their speed though.

_I don't know anyone who would come up with a strategy like that, but you're a unique person, Naruto Uzumaki._

* * *

The rest of the fights did not last too long.

Neji Hyuga fought Choji Akimichi and defeated him with a single palm strike.

Tenten was set to fight Hinata Hyuga, but the Hyuga had forfeited upon seeing that she was supposed to fight her cousin's teammate.

Shikamaru Nara fought Yoroi Akado after that. Apparently, the older Leaf ninja thought that he could drain Shikamaru's chakra. The problem with that plan had been that he needed to get close to the Nara to do so. He had been captured by Shikamaru's jutsu, and then Shikamaru had used the man's own ability against him.

Naruto was still puzzled as to how Shikamaru knew that Yoroi would not simply gain the chakra that he stole from himself back. It did not really matter in the grand scheme of things though.

The final fight had been the one that disturbed Naruto the most though. Gaara had fought Misumi Tsurugi, Kabuto's third teammate. He had ended up crushing the man to death with his sand.

Seeing how bloodthirsty Gaara was truly scared him.

"I need all of the ones that advanced to the third test to come down to the arena floor," Hayate said.

All of the genin that won their preliminary matches quickly made their way to the arena floor.

"Well, with this, the preliminary round for the third test has been completed. Those of you that remain will get to compete in the third test. Lord Hokage, would you like to proceed?" Hayate said.

"Yes, I'd like to start explaining the actual third test now. As I told you before, in the main event, your matches will be seen by everyone. Each of you will fight to represent the strength of your countries. I'd like you to show off all your powers with no reserves. That is why the finals will be held one month from now," Hiruzen said.

"Why are we waiting a month?" Naruto asked.

"This break will be for preparations. In addition to informing all the various country lords and shinobi leaders, this is the time needed to arrange for the gathering of the event. It is also the preparation time for the examinees. You can use this time to get to know more about your enemies and train. You can simply rest for the month if you want, but it is not recommended," Hiruzen said.

_I don't know about them, but I'm not going to rest for a month. Shikamaru might, though._

"Before I can dismiss you, there are pieces of paper inside the box that Anko is holding. I want each one of you to take one piece from it." Hiruzen said.

"I'll come to you, so wait your turn." Anko said.

"You are currently drawing lots for the third test." Hiruzen said. "Now that you've all taken a piece, I would like you to tell us the number on your piece of paper starting from the left."

"I have seven," Sasuke Uchiha said.

"I have two," Temari said.

"I have five," Shino Aburame said.

"I have six," Suzumebachi Kamizuru said.

"I have one," Kurotsuchi said.

"I have four," Naruto Uzumaki said.

"I have eight," Neji Hyuga said.

"I have nine," Tenten said.

"I have three," Shikamaru Nara said.

"I have ten," Gaara said.

"The first match will be Kurotsuchi vs. Temari. The second match will be Shikamaru Nara vs. Naruto Uzumaki. The third match will be Shino Aburame vs. Suzumebachi Kamizuru. The fourth match will be Sasuke Uchiha vs. Neji Hyuga. The fifth match will be Tenten vs. Gaara," Anko Mitarashi said as she held up a tournament bracket diagram to show the matches.

At the knowledge of who they would be facing, Naruto looked at Shikamaru carefully. He resolved not to take the shadow user lightly.

"Are there any questions?" Hiruzen asked.

"Since it's a tournament, it would mean that there is only one winner, right?" Shikamaru asked. "Does that mean that only one person can become a chunin?"

"No, that is not quite it. There will be judges to watch over the matches. The lords of various countries and I are among the judges. The judges will determine who has what it takes to become a chunin. You can lose your first match or even forfeit and still become a chunin. It is possible for everyone to make chunin, but it is also possible for none of you to make chunin. The farther you make it into the tournament, the more chances that you have to show to the judges whether or not you are worthy of the rank of chunin," Hiruzen said.

When no one spoke, the Hokage said, "Thank you for all of the effort you have exerted thus far. You are all dismissed until one month from now."

* * *

Author's Note: Well, that's a wrap. I hope this chapter wasn't too much of a disappointment. I couldn't bring myself to feel inspired to focus too much on most of the fights. That's why I didn't go into detail on all of them.

Anyways, I'm about to start working on my next fic, which will feature a freelance shinobi-type Naruto. It's not a rewrite of Betrayal, but they are similar. Essentially, Naruto is betrayed and decides to go into self-exile after he finds that he can't handle how he's treated, in conjunction with having his dream taken away.

I will also say that it's highly likely that it will be Naruto/Tayuya, though I'm keeping the poll open anyways. I'm not actually one hundred percent sure that it will be the pairing, though it's definitely one of the better onces I could pick. After all, I don't want to pair him with someone who will be too tied to a village, given that he won't be loyal to any village in it.

Well, thanks for reading and reviewing.

Next chapter, you'll get to see Naruto's training in the month between the preliminaries and the third test of the Chunin Exams. Naturally, it might be a bit delayed with the new project being added to my list of things to do, but it should take too long.


	8. Secrets Revealed

Author's Note: Yes, I'm back with another chapter. I wanted to get one more chapter out for this story before I resumed work on Naruto: A New Destiny.

I honestly have to say that I like that story more than this one. I've always been fond of fanfics where Naruto leaves the Hidden Leaf Village though.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**8. Secrets Revealed**

As soon as the Hokage dismissed everyone, Naruto and Sasuke rushed to meet up with Kakashi. By the look in Sasuke's eyes, he suspected that Sasuke was going to try to ask Kakashi to train him before Naruto could do so.

In the end, they reached Kakashi at the same time, who pulled them both into the hall outside the room.

"This should be fairly private," Kakashi explained. "Now, I can only train one of you during this month. Naruto, you will be up against Shikamaru Nara in the first round and either Temari or Kurotsuchi in the second round. Sasuke, you will be up against Neji Hyuga in the first round, and it's quite likely that you'll have to fight Gaara in the second round. Of the two of you, Sasuke has the hardest fights. Because of that, I will be training Sasuke."

Naruto looked saddened by that news, even though he understood it.

"Naruto, I want you to head over to the hot springs. The man who is going to train you can be found around there," Kakashi said with an eye-smile. "Trust me when I say that you'll be better off going through him. He's better suited to training you."

"Whatever you say, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said as he turned and walked away, still unhappy about the turn of events

He was not sure how long he walked through the halls of the tower, but a voice cut through his thoughts like a knife through butter.

"You must be Naruto Uzumaki. You did well in the preliminaries."

Turning to his right, Naruto saw a short man that he quickly recognized as the man that had been wearing the Tsuchikage's robe earlier.

"Yes Lord Tsuchikage, I am," he said, immediately making himself bow. "I'm sorry that I didn't see you there."

The Tsuchikage chuckled at that. "You don't need to bow to me, and you looked deep in thought. There's no need to apologize. In fact, I wanted to thank you. I am told that you saved my granddaughter's life in the Forest of Death."

Realization dawned in Naruto's eyes as he remembered that Kurotsuchi was the Tsuchikage's granddaughter. "Yeah, I came upon her being attacked by the team from the Hidden Sound Village. I guess they hit her team with a sneak attack and knocked out her teammates."

"That's why Kurotsuchi told me," he confirmed. "Would you mind telling me what actually happened after you showed up?"

Naruto began to get nervous at that point, but he decided to do as he was asked to. He began by telling him about how he was actually incapacitated at first, and then he forced himself into action and killed the three Sound ninja. The only thing that he left out was the fact that he called upon the fox's chakra.

"Your fingernails aren't long enough to tear someone's throat out," he suddenly said, looking at Naruto sternly. "This is most unexpected. Sarutobi did not tell me that you were a jinchuriki. You must contain the Nine-Tails."

Naruto froze at that statement.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, surprised by the look on Naruto's face.

"It's supposed to be a secret. Only the people who fought the Nine-Tails when it attacked are supposed to know," Naruto said quietly.

"That's unexpected, indeed," he said with a frown. "None of your peers know?"

"No," Naruto replied, looking away. "The Hokage passed a law. Talking about my burden is punishable by death."

"Sarutobi must like his secrets," the Tsuchikage said, shaking his head. "I bet you don't even know about your heritage."

Naruto froze at those words. "You know who my parents are?"

"Of course I do," he said with a grin.

"Onoki, stop right there."

They both turned and saw Hiruzen Sarutobi approaching them.

"Naruto, come with me. Onoki, get your granddaughter and bring her to my office. It seems that they should both be told everything," Hiruzen said.

"Now you're talking," Onoki said as he walked away.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked.

"You'll see," Hiruzen said with a sigh. "Let's just say that there are going to be some big changes in the nearby future."

* * *

An hour later, Naruto and Kurotsuchi were seated in the Hokage's office while Hiruzen Sarutobi was sitting behind it. Onoki was floating in one of the corners of the room, almost as if he was trying to get a good view of the pair while still being too far away for them to reach easily.

"I had planned on revealing this after the Chunin Exams, but I've decided that you should learn about it now. It'll still be revealed publically after the exams, but this way, you don't find out about it when everyone else does," Hiruzen said as he looked amongst them. "After the Third Shinobi World War ended, the Fourth Hokage attempted to form an alliance with the Hidden Rock Village. His attempts at it ended in failure for a while. And then, the Tsuchikage agreed to negotiate an alliance."

"We know about that," Naruto said. "You announced that stuff a month ago."

"I did," Hiruzen said with a nod of his head. "But I never announced the reason that the alliance was made. You see, Onoki had been adamant that an alliance not be formed. So why did he change his mind?"

"Gramps is too stubborn to change his mind easily," Kurotsuchi commented, earning a chuckle from the Hokage.

"He found out that his greatest enemy was going to have a child… a son, to be precise," Hiruzen said, earning wide eyes from Kurotsuchi. "The alliance was based on the promise of a political marriage between the Fourth Hokage's son and the Third Tsuchikage's granddaughter. That was actually why this alliance was never revealed. The Fourth died ten days after he signed the alliance, and it was publically announced that the Fourth's entire family died in the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's attack."

"He didn't die, did he?" Kurotsuchi asked in a whisper.

"No, he didn't, but I wasn't aware of the alliance. As the former Hokage, at the time, Minato had never told me of the alliance. If I had known, I would have publically announced that he died still, but I would have informed Onoki of the truth."

"What does this have to do with me?" Naruto asked impatiently. "I need to start my training."

"This has to do with you because you are the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. You are the Fourth Hokage's son, who is promised in a political marriage with the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, the girl you are sitting next to," Hiruzen said.

Naruto took a look at Kurotsuchi, who looked extremely shocked. And then, he fainted.

"Well, he took that better than I thought he would," Hiruzen mused. "Perhaps it's better that he stay unconscious for the rest of this. After all, I need to reveal another big secret that he already knows."

"You mean the secret I just found out about today?" Onoki asked with a frown.

"Yes," Hiruzen said with a nod of his head.

"Why didn't you tell me before now? That is not a small piece of information," Onoki asked.

"I wanted you to see him who he was before you found out," Hiruzen replied. Looking to Kurotsuchi, he said, "Naruto is not only the son of the Fourth Hokage. He is the third jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Apparently, you saw him use its chakra and get his first kills."

"Those were his first kills?" Kurotsuchi asked quietly. "From the way he did it, I thought he had done it before."

"You don't even have a reaction to what he contains, do you?" Hiruzen asked, almost sounding amused.

"Uncle Roshi holds the Four-Tails. I know that jinchuriki are human," she replied. "I'm sorry, Lord Hokage. I just can't believe Naruto's first kills were to save me."

"I can," Hiruzen said with a small smile. "Naruto is the type of person who puts others before himself. He would be more willing to kill to save another than to save himself. That's one reason I'm not worried that he'll try to refuse the political marriage. Even if he barely knows you, he'll do it in order to benefit his home."

"He sounds like a good person," Kurotsuchi said, looking at his still unconscious form.

"You two will get to know each other soon. After the Chunin Exams, you will be joining our village as a Leaf kunoichi. You will have a year to get to know him before you two must get married," Hiruzen said.

"Are there any… expectations… after that?" she asked, almost embarrassed by the implications.

"If you two want to have kids, then you're welcome to. If you don't want to, then you don't have to. This will not be forced upon you," Hiruzen said with a light smile. Because kids were never discussed in the alliance treaty, there were absolutely no requirements on the matter.

"Now that this is dealt with, I want you to come with me. We need to start on your training. I want to make sure you get a chance to fight Naruto in the exams, after all. Guys like him respect girls who can put up a fight," Onoki said with a grin, causing Kurotsuchi to blush.

_Well, at least she has a crush on him already. I don't think his feelings towards her have progressed that far though. No matter. It will be interesting to see Jiraiya's reaction to this… next month._

With that, Hiruzen Sarutobi began to deal with his paperwork while Naruto continue to sleep.

* * *

A few hours later, Naruto arrived at the hot springs.

He had been more tired than expected, so he had fallen asleep within a second after waking up from fainting.

After he was fully awake, he had been told that his heritage and the political marriage were to be kept secret until after the Chunin Exams, so he had to make sure not to tell anyone until then.

Shaking his head, he found that he was not really upset by the thought of having to marry Kurotsuchi. She was a pretty girl that was nice, quite strong, and had a heritage as impressive as his own.

In all honesty, he was kind of relieved at the thought of being in an arranged marriage. He was no longer attracted to Sakura, he found Ino to be incredibly annoying, and he honestly could not see Hinata in such a way because of how shy she was and how easily she gave up in the preliminaries. Furthermore, most of the girls in the village had treated him negatively because of what their parents told them about him.

Despite what most people thought, Naruto was not all forgiving. He doubted that he would ever be able to fully forgive everyone for the way that they had treated him growing up.

Shaking his head, he broke away from his thoughts as he found the man that fit the description that the Hokage had given him of his teacher.

"Are you Jiraiya?" Naruto asked.

The white haired man that was peeping on the girls' side of the hot spring looked back at him and put a finger in front of his mouth, trying to get him to be quiet. He then resumed peeping.

_Surely this pervert can't be him._ A grin came to his face suddenly. _No one ignores me._

Naruto formed the dog hand sign and inhaled a deep breath of air. He exhaled it a second later, launching his Wind Style: Wind Bullet at the fence that the man was peeping through.

He quickly used the body flicker technique to disappear before his attack hit the fence, knocking a hole in it that let the women on the other side see the white haired man.

The women saw the man immediately and ran over to him. For what seemed like fifteen minutes, they beat him up, covering him in bruises and scratches.

Naruto smiled as he watched it. It made it even better when he saw that Anko Mitarashi and Kurenai Yuhi were among the women that beat him up.

Once the women were done and gone, Naruto stepped out from his hiding spot and walked over to the injured man.

"So, are you Jiraiya?"

"I'm going to kill you, you damned kid," the man groaned as he tried to sit up. "Why in the hell did you do that?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Kakashi-sensei and the Old Man said you were supposed to train me. If I had known you were just a little pervert, I would've asked someone else to train me."

"I'm not a little pervert," the man said as he slowly rose to his feet. With a lecherous grin, he said, "I'm a big one."

Naruto face palmed at that.

"So, you're Naruto Uzumaki, eh?" the man asked. "I am the Gallant Jiraiya, revered as the Toad Sage throughout the lands."

"I can't say I've ever heard of you," Naruto said with a raised eyebrow.

The man sighed dramatically at that. "Whatever kid. Let's start your training and get this over with. Who are you supposed to fight in the first round?"

"I have to fight a former classmate of mine, Shikamaru Nara," Naruto said as he began to follow the man away from there.

"Ah, that's the clan heir. You have to be careful around members of that clan. They're smart but lazy. Their shadow-based ninjutsu makes close range fights suicidal too," Jiraiya said thoughtfully.

"I don't need help dealing with him," Naruto suddenly said. "I watched Shikamaru fight. I'm not going to be able to out-think him. I'll just overwhelm him with a couple hundred shadow clones and start firing off wind jutsu at him."

Jiraiya frowned. "You're just going to hit him with overwhelming force?" Thinking for a few seconds, he shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, that should work."

"I need to fight the Tsuchikage's granddaughter in the second round," Naruto said, already feeling sure that his fiancé would win her fight.

"She's an earth user, if I remember correctly," Jiraiya said. Looking up at the sky, he smiled. "You know what, let's do something a bit creative. You can probably beat her as you are right now. Your sensei and the Hokage have spoken highly of your skills. So instead of worrying about strategy right now, I'll teach you one of the most powerful jutsu that I know. You should only hit someone with it if you want to keep them down for a while, but it's great for intimidation as well. It's called the Rasengan. You might not be able to fully learn it in a month though. After all, it took the Fourth Hokage three years to create it."

Naruto's eyes widened at that. _Dad created it?_

"I'll master it in a month," Naruto said with fire in his eyes.

"Now that's what I like to hear," Jiraiya said with a grin. "Let's begin."

* * *

Author's Note: And that's where I'm ending this. It's a bit short, especially compared to the previous chapter, but that's just how it is. I'm still nowhere near ready to crank out 4k word chapters every time, let alone 5k+.

Next chapter, the Third Test of the Chunin Exams will begin. I will likely only show the first round in that chapter and have the second round in Chapter 10.

My next chapter of Secrets will be a little later than normal too. I'm feeling particularly inspired to write _Naruto: A New Destiny_ right now, so I would not be surprised if I reached Chapter 9 on that one before this one.

Thanks again for reading and reviewing my work. It always makes me happy to know that people like to read what I write.


	9. The Finals: Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**The Chunin Exams Arc**

**9. The Finals: Part 1**

It was the seventh day of August, and Naruto Uzumaki was walking through the doors that led to the ground floor of the Hidden Leaf Village's stadium.

From his position, he could see that all of the contestants were out on the ground floor except for him and Sasuke. Kurotsuchi and Temari were constantly shooting each other glares, making him remember Jiraiya's explanation that the finals this year were filled with grudge matches.

Apparently, the Hidden Rock Village and the Hidden Sand Village had a great deal of animosity between them. The same applied to the Aburame clan and the Kamizuru clan. To a lesser extent, the Uchiha clan and the Hyuga clan disliked each other.

_The only ones that aren't grudge matches are mine and Gaara's. Gaara is probably going to try to kill Lee's teammate regardless though. Let's just hope he doesn't succeed._

As he reached the ground floor, he inwardly sighed upon seeing that Shikamaru looked bored. He was actually feeling rather pumped up for the fights that would be starting soon.

Glancing around, Naruto took note of the natural appearance of the ground floor of the stadium. There were actually a few trees and quite a bit of grass.

"Uzumaki, where's your teammate?" Neji Hyuga suddenly asked. "Is he too scared to show up?"

"You better hope he is. It's the only way you're going to stand a chance against him," Naruto said off-handed. In all honesty, he would have been more willing to bet that Neji would win the fight, but he would be damned to a life of babysitting before he let Neji know that.

"Make it to the finals so that I can destroy you," Neji said coldly.

"I doubt you're anywhere near Gaara's level," Naruto said, looking at the redheaded boy.

"Enough chatter," a man with a senbon in his mouth said as he appeared before them. He was wearing the standard attire of a Leaf ninja, but his forehead protector was styled as a bandana backwards. "My name is Genma Shiranui, and I'll be the proctor. Before you ask, Hayate's not feeling well. He has some bad days every now and then."

"You look different," Shikamaru said quietly as he stood next to Naruto. "Finally ditch the orange, I see."

It was true. Naruto Uzumaki had finally ditched his orange clothing. Instead, he wore the blue pants and blue shirt that most Leaf shinobi wore. He even had the red spirals on his shoulders.

"I see that Sasuke Uchiha is late," Genma noted. "Kakashi's training him, so he'll probably be around half an hour late. If he fails to show up on time for his fight, he will be disqualified."

Naruto sighed, knowing that his sensei had a horrible habbit.

"Now, I'd like everyone except for Kurotsuchi of the Hidden Rock Village and Temari of the Hidden Sand Village to head to that entrance over there," Genma said, pointing to an open entrance that completely lacked a door. It appeared that a ramp was directly through it. "That way will lead you to the waiting area. You will wait there until it is your turn."

One by one, the genin headed up there, leaving the fan wielding Sand ninja and the earth type Rock ninja in the arena.

As Naruto reached the waiting area, he looked down at Kurotsuchi, who seemed to look at him at that exact moment.

"Kick her ass," Naruto said so quietly that no one heard him. It was clear that Kurotsuchi could read his lips, if the blush on her face was any indication.

_Let's see how strong my fiancé really is._

* * *

"You may begin," Genma said.

Immediately, Temari reached for her fan, but she did not immediately remove it from her back. "Look at what we have here. Does the princess have a crush on a Leaf ninja? Isn't that forbidden? He kind of resembles the guy who regularly slaughtered your people."

Kurotsuchi looked at her without a hint of emotion on her face. Even her blush disappeared. "You really should have attacked me. Trying to get a rise out of me is a horrible plan. Of course, that just means that it's expected of a Sand ninja."

Immediately, Temari removed her fan and swung it angrily, a gust of wind flying at Kurotsuchi. Anyone could have seen that Temari was holding nothing back.

However, it was easy to see that Kurotsuchi was holding even less back when she turned to mud upon being hit.

"Shit, that's the Mud Clone Jutsu," the blonde cursed as she looked around. "When did she make the switch?"

"You were looking straight at me when I did it."

Temari froze as the voice came from behind her. She quickly jumped forward, shocked to see that the black haired kunoichi had been standing within a foot of her.

"You're not very good, are you? I guess the Fourth Kazekage's only talent is using gold dust. He certainly can't produce strong offspring," Kurotsuchi remarked.

Rage boiled over, causing Temari to swing her fan four times back to back.

Kurotsuchi smirked as she formed the snake hand sign and slammed her hands to the ground with incredible speed. The ground where she had been standing suddenly rose twenty-five feet, and she did a flip off of the higher ground, landing a dozen feet behind Temari.

"Earth Style: Terra Shield," Kurotsuchi said as she slammed her hands to the ground. A wall of earth rose before her, just in time to protect her from another blast of wind from Temari's fan.

_She's not bad at following my movements. However, I could have ended this before she destroyed my mud clone. After all, she didn't even realize that I had substituted with the mud clone that was underground._

She had prepared for the fight right from the start. Hiding a mud clone underground using the Hidden Mole Jutsu was just further proof of her methodical planning.

"Earth Style: Stone Senbon," Kurotsuchi whispered as she slammed her hands onto the wall that she had created to protect her.

Temari's eyes widened as five hundred needles made of stone shot from the wall of earth at her. A single wave of her fan cast the needles aside, but she had barely had enough time to manage it.

"You can't hide from me!" Temari yelled, using her Great Wind Scythe Jutsu. Immediately, she began to pant, but she smirked as he strongest wind jutsu tore through the earth shield.

And then she saw that there was no one standing on the other side of it.

"How in the hell did she do that?" Temari muttered. Her eyes suddenly went wide with shock as she felt pressure on her ankles.

Looking down, she saw Kurotsuchi's gloved hands holding her ankles. And then she was pulled into the earth until her head was all that was left out of it.

Kurotsuchi emerged in front of her a few moments later with a grin on her face. "How do you like my Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu? It's only a D-rank technique, but it gets the job done."

Fury was clear in Temari's eyes as she saw that she had been beaten with such a simple technique.

"Temari of the Hidden Sand Village, can you get out?" Genma asked loudly.

"No," Temari said angrily.

"In that case, I declare Kurotsuchi the winner of this match. Please remove your opponent from the ground and return that raised platform of earth before you go to the waiting area," Genma said.

"Of course," Kurotsuchi replied. She walked over to the raised platform of earth first and simply touched it with her hand. It immediately sunk into the ground. She then walked over to Temari, stuck her hand through the ground, grabbed the Sand ninja by the back of her shirt, and threw her out of the ground.

"You might be a match in a few years," Kurotsuchi said, looking at Temari. "Well, you would be if I didn't train at all and you trained non-stop. Have fun in the nose-bleed section."

With those words, Kurotsuchi walked to the waiting area, ignoring the pissed off Sand kunoichi.

* * *

"Awesome job," Naruto said as Kurotsuchi walked into the waiting area. "Those were some pretty cool moves. You'll have to show me them in person after I deal with lazy ass." With that, he pointed to Shikamaru.

"You've already seen what I can do to a wind type shinobi," Kurotsuchi said with a smirk. "Do you honestly think you'll fare any better against me?"

"Does a Nara watch clouds?" Naruto asked.

"Smart ass," Shikamaru muttered.

"Better a smart ass than a dumbass," Naruto said with a grin. With that, he disappeared in a flicker of movement.

"Shikamaru Nara, come down to the ground floor or be disqualified," Genma called out.

Shikamaru groaned as he headed down to face Naruto.

As he got down to the arena floor, Genma said, "You may now begin."

"You can forfeit if you want," Naruto said immediately. "You've seen me in action. I want hold a grudge if you decide you don't want your ass kicked."

Shikamaru actually smiled at that. "I won't win this fight. I know you're strong. My mom and Ino would never shut up if I forfeited though. So let's get this over with."

The shadow user doubled over as Naruto appeared in front of him and slammed his fist in his stomach. Almost as soon as it happened, Naruto reappeared back in his starting position.

"Damn, you hit hard," Shikamaru said with a groan. "I didn't even have a chance to activate my jutsu."

"Why would I wait for you to do that? I doubt I can break it, after all." Naruto asked as he formed the ram hand sign. "But if you want to use it, I'll just have to let you."

Shikamaru's eyes widened as Naruto began to mold chakra.

Chakra began to surround Naruto as he molded more chakra and more chakra. Within moments, the chakra that he had built up made the air tense.

"I don't even have that much chakra," Shikamaru said with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Here's your chance," Naruto said as his hands formed his signature hand sign. "Go wild with your jutsu."

In an instant, the arena was filled with smoke.

When it cleared, at least three hundred shadow clones were revealed

Though Naruto could not hear his exact words, he knew for certain that Shikamaru was cussing.

"Use your jutsu whenever you want," Naruto said with a yawn.

Shikamaru looked at the mob of shadow clones with an appraising eye. The entire mob of clones stood before him.

"Okay, you asked for it." He formed the rat hand sign at that. "Shadow Possession Jutsu… success," he said.

Much to the surprise of almost everyone in the stadium, Shikamaru's shadow touched the shadow of a single shadow clone, and then it spread from there.

Shikamaru had captured all of the clones with his jutsu. By the look on his face, it was clear that the jutsu put incredibly stress on him though.

He quickly removed a shuriken from his shuriken holster, and all of the clones did the same thing. With all the speed he could muster, he brought one of the shuriken blades across his forearm, leaving a long but shallow cut across it.

All of the clones did the same.

Once again, the arena was filled with smoke.

When it disappeared, only Shikamaru and Genma were present.

"What's going on? Where's Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, his breathing becoming rough and erratic. He had used a large amount of chakra with his jutsu.

All of the sudden, Shikamaru's hands went to his throat. They stopped before reaching it, almost as if there was something in the way. It seemed more and more as if that was the truth when Shikamaru clutched the air in front of his throat and tried to pull it away.

Naruto suddenly materialized behind Shikamaru. His arms were around the shadow user's neck in a chokehold.

Shikamaru's eyes rolled back, and his body went limp, prompting Naruto to ease off and lower his comrade to the ground.

"Naruto Uzumaki is the winner," Genma said, surprised by what had happened. "Medics, please take the unconscious Nara to the medic bay."

Immediately, a team of medical shinobi ran out there.

As Naruto made his way to the waiting area, everyone was left with one major question: how did he turn invisible?

* * *

"How in the hell did you do that?" Kurotsuchi asked when Naruto got back to the waiting area.

"I was trained by one of the Sannin during the one month break," Naruto said with a grin. "He taught me his Transparency Jutsu. I used it before the smoke cleared away from my use of the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu. I never thought he could actually capture all of my clones with his jutsu, but it was a pretty cool surprise."

"My village has a similar jutsu," Kurotsuchi said, shaking her head. "But I've never seen a jutsu like that used for something quite like that. You act like you don't know anything about strategy, but then you do that."

"Shouldn't you be watching your teammate?" Naruto asked.

Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes as she walked up to the railing and looked at the fight between Suzumebachi and Shino. "How often do you think about what you did in the Forest of Death?"

"Every time I close my eyes," Naruto replied as he stood next to her. "They deserved to die, and they would have killed you if I had not killed them. Still, I see their faces every time I close my eyes. They haunt me, even now."

"I'm sorry that I was too weak to deal with them," Kurotsuchi said quietly. "The one that shot air from his hands disabled Suzumebachi and Jibachi at the start of the fight with a sneak attack. Their leader disabled me with that device he had on his arm. If I had not been caught off guard, I could have taken them all on by myself."

"Don't worry about it," Naruto said with a smile. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Naruto, do you like me?" she asked quietly.

He seemed to think about that for a minute or two. "I don't know. I want to be friends with you, and I think I could like you. I don't know if I like you like that yet though. I've been an orphan all my life, and I never really had friends before I became a ninja. I had some guys who I played pranks with and skipped school with, but I couldn't call them friends. People were told not to spend time with me because of _that_."

She nodded sadly. "I think we should go out to eat tonight. I want to get to know you, especially with everything that is going to be happened. Plus, I kind of like you."

Naruto actually blushed at that, but he nodded his head regardless.

"And the winner of the match is Suzumebachi of the Hidden Rock Village's Kamizuru clan," Genma called out.

"I guess that means that you're fighting her," Kurotsuchi said.

"Don't we fight first?" Naruto asked.

"I got a peak at the match brackets before you got here. The winner of the third match has to fight the winner of the second match. The winner of that match fights the winner of the first match in the semi-finals," Kurotsuchi explained.

"She won't stand a chance against me," Naruto said quietly.

"No, she won't," Kurotsuchi agreed, surprising him. "After all, if my fiancé loses against my teammate, who is known to be weaker than me, then I'm going to kick your ass after all this is over with."

"No pressure," Naruto muttered.

"You know, it's a good thing we're talking so quietly," Kurotsuchi said with a wink, making Naruto chuckle.

As if on cue, Tenten asked, "What's going on with you two? You've spent the last ten minutes whispering to each other."

"We were making fun of your white-eyed girlfriend," Naruto answered. "The Hyuga is a girl right? If she's really a guy, I'm a bit scared. I mean, her hair is longer than yours."

Neji looked furious at that, while Tenten barely suppressed a giggle.

"We're not late, are we?"

Everyone's attention turned to the center of the arena as Kakashi Hatake and Sasuke Uchiha were standing there.

"No, you're just on time," Genma said with a sigh. "Neji Hyuga, come down so you can begin your match."

"Finally," Neji said as he headed down to the arena.

* * *

As Sasuke activated his Sharingan, he knew how the fight would go. Contrary to popular belief, he was not so arrogant as to believe that he could beat a Hyuga in taijutsu. As a matter of fact, he had no intention of using taijutsu at all.

He was an Uchiha, which meant that his forte was for ninjutsu. Members of the Hyuga clan were notorious for only using taijutsu, and that particular Hyuga had a taijutsu specialist for a sensei.

_Ninjutsu is the key to winning this fight. I'll save my Chidori for Gaara._

As soon as Genma announced the start of the fight, his hands flew through the necessary hand signs, and he launched his Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu.

He smirked when he saw Neji jump away from it with panic on his face.

_Let's see how he handles my Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu._

In an instant, Sasuke launched a barrage of small fireballs at Neji, forcing the older boy to use all of his speed to dodge the attacks.

_I can't risk using too much of my chakra on this guy, so I'll have to finish this quickly. Gaara is going to be a tough opponent, and I'll have to fight Naruto after him._

He drew a handful of shuriken at that point and launched them at Neji. His hands had formed the needed hand signs before the shuriken were even a foot away, and he exhaled one small fireball for each shuriken. They consumed shuriken and actually flew with them. It resulted in them being flaming shuriken.

_I just learned this one. Let's see what you think of my Fire Style: Phoenix Nails Jutsu._

Sasuke was shocked whenever Neji suddenly expelled chakra from his body and spun around, creating a spinning barrier of chakra that deflected his shuriken.

"You can't get past my Rotation," Neji said, breathing heavily as he looked at Sasuke.

And then it was all over.

Neji had never activated his Byakugan, while Sasuke's Sharingan had been activated. The second that Neji looked at Sasuke, he had made eye contact.

A genjutsu was in place, allowing Sasuke to appear behind Neji with in a flicker of movement and take him out with a chop to the neck.

"Sasuke Uchiha is the winner," Genma said as Neji hit the ground. Medics immediately came out to collect Neji.

As Sasuke walked up to the waiting area, he looked at Naruto, expecting to receive some recognition of his improved skills. What he got instead earned a glare.

"I doubt they'll promote you for that. That wasn't what I'd expect from a chunin," Naruto said, not even noticing the angry glare.

"The next fight will be-" Genma began.

"I forfeit," Tenten called out, surprising everyone. The sudden forfeit before her fight could even begin, despite knowing about it a month in advance, was quite unexpected. From the bloodlust that Gaara was exuding, it was not as surprising to the people in the waiting area.

"In that case, there will be a one hour break before Naruto Uzumaki fights Suzumebachi Kamizuru," Genma declared.

* * *

Author's Note: And that's Chapter 9 of Secrets.

I had planned on writing out the bug users' fight and Gaara's fight, but I changed my mind a bit. If I'm going to write out Suzumebachi's abilities, it might as well be during a fight with Naruto. People read this mainly for Naruto and Kurotsuchi, after all. And as for Gaara's fight... well, how interesting is a weapons user against Gaara? I'm not good enough at fight scenes to even make such a battle not boring. Plus, Gaara can't try to kill Tenten now.

By the way, this isn't necessarily crucial to the storyline, but Neji finds out about his father after his fight with Sasuke in this story. Thus, he will become less about fate. Neji is a minor character in this story, so I won't spend too much time on him unless its crucial to the storyline.

Thanks for reading and reviewing. Chapter 10 should be up tomorrow.


	10. The Finals: Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**10. The Finals: Part 2**

Naruto, Sasuke, Kurotsuchi, Suzumebachi, and Gaara were all in the waiting area when Kakashi Hatake and a Rock shinobi showed up.

The Rock shinobi was very tall and brawny with dark hair that ended in a pony tail. He had a bulbous nose and a beard. In addition to that, he wore the standard uniform with a single sleeve: on his left arm. Around his right forearm, he wore bandages.

Naruto was immediately curious as to whom the man was, but he began to sweat upon hearing Kurotsuchi's greeting.

"Dad, I didn't know you got back," she exclaimed as he jumped on him and gave him a hug.

The man was Naruto's future father-in-law.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, Kuro," he said with a smile. "Come on. I want to talk to you and Suzumebachi while we have time."

"The same goes for my students," Kakashi said with an eye-smile, waving Sasuke and Naruto over to him.

They immediately walked out of the waiting area, and Kakashi led his students to another room that was not too far away.

Upon arriving at the bare, stone room, Kakashi said, "I'm proud of both of you for what you've accomplished in your fights." He then looked at Naruto. "Asuma informed me of what you did in your fight. It seems that everyone was impressed by your fight. Even so, you're not guaranteed promotion yet. While some people might see the strategy you employed as being a good strategy, not all of the judges are guaranteed to understand it completely." He then looked to Sasuke. "And while you did very well against Neji, it has become a common opinion that you just winged it until you got lucky. Neither one of you will to get promoted if the judges just think you got a lucky break and used it to your advantage."

Sasuke did not look too happily to hear that, but he did not say anything.

"I'll just have to earn my promotion in my next two fights," Naruto said.

Kakashi nodded his head. "Watch out for the Kamizuru. Her bees turn to honey when you destroy them, and they can shoot poisoned stingers from a long range."

"Worst case scenario, I have to release my resistance seals," Naruto said with a grin.

Kakashi actually looked surprised at that. "I never resealed them after your fight with Lee."

"My sensei for the month replaced them with stronger ones," Naruto said with a small smile. "My speed has doubled."

"You'll need more than a speed increase to win against me," Sasuke said.

Naruto actually laughed at that point. "The training that my sensei had planned for me only took a week to master. What I learned the three weeks after that… that's going to knock your socks off."

"Even so, I heard that you wasted a large amount of chakra in your first fight. If you two fight, you'll have to get past two more fights, and none of your opponents are weak, especially Kurotsuchi," Kakashi said.

"I know how strong she is," Naruto said, sighing. "I doubt I'll have it in me to fight in the finals."

It surprised Kakashi and Sasuke to hear Naruto admit that he might forfeit when the finals came around. Naruto was not the type to surrender.

"Sasuke, I want to talk to Naruto alone. Enjoy your break, and good luck against Gaara," Kakashi said.

Sasuke nodded stiffly before he left.

Once he was out of earshot, Kakashi said, "Naruto, you don't need to forfeit. You won't be the only one to be exhausted when the time comes."

"I never planned on it," Naruto said, confusing his sensei because of the contradiction. "I have a bad feeling that something's going to happen to interrupt the finals, even if I want to fight in them. Fighting Suzumebachi and Kurotsuchi is going to take a lot out of me. I definitely won't be fighting at full strength, but I'll never give up."

Kakashi smiled at that. "So Naruto, what did Jiraiya teach you over the past month?"

Naruto grinned at the question. "At first, he only planned on teaching me a single jutsu. When I mastered it in a week, he changed his mind though. From there on, he taught me how to beat every contestant in the Chunin Exams. That's why he doubled the strength of the resistance seal. While I'm just as fast as I used to be with it activated, I'm a whole lot faster when it's deactivated. My speed is four times faster with it deactivated than it is activated."

It was easy to see that Kakashi thought about the reason for the increase. "The increase in speed is intended for Sasuke. You don't want him to copy your jutsu, so you thought you'd just increase your speed until his Sharingan couldn't keep up?"

Naruto nodded his head in agreement.

"Sasuke is faster than you give him credit for," Kakashi said with a sigh. "He trained with resistance seals, but we deactivated them already. He's about as fast as Lee was without his weights. While you are faster now, the speed won't be overwhelming."

Naruto frowned, but he shook his head. "It doesn't matter. My speed was what I built up for my fight with him, but it's not the only thing I have up my sleeve."

"Do you honestly believe you can defeat any of your opponents?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto began to walk out of the room before he stopped and answered the question. "No, I'm not. I can beat Suzumebachi, and I'm pretty sure I can beat Kurotsuchi. I doubt that Sasuke is any stronger than Kurotsuchi. Gaara, on the other hand, is the one that I doubt I can beat. I hope Sasuke survives that fight."

"You don't think he can win?" Kakashi asked.

"He's not strong enough. Against one of my kind, Sasuke is outmatched," Naruto answered as he walked out of the room. "I'll see you later, Kakashi-sensei."

Before he was out of earshot, Naruto heard Kakashi's final words to him before the third test of the Chunin Exams started back up. "As my sensei told me, I will now tell you. Arrogance is a path to failure, but so is self-doubt. Believe in yourself and always be open to the possibilities. Only then can you succeed."

* * *

The rest of the break passed in a blur, and before he knew it, Naruto was standing on the ground floor of the arena. Suzumebachi was directly across from him, while Genma was off to the side.

"This is technically the second round of the Chunin Exams, but it is the only match of the round. Thus, there will not be a break or anything between this fight and the next one. As such, the winner will have to stay down here after this fight is over with. After the third round is over with, there will be another break, but it will be shorter since it's only so that the feudal lords can place bets on the finals," Genma explained. "Now, it is time for the fight to begin. As you know, the same rules apply as last time."

"You're going down," Suzumebachi said as she held out her arms. Immediately, bees came surging out of her sleeves.

Without a hint of hesitation, Naruto inhaled a deep breath, formed a set of hand signs, and exhaled a powerful gust that threw the bees back at her.

"You want to play that way, do you?" she asked with a wicked grin. She waved her arms around at that point, and a mass of bees came flying out again. That time, they hovered around her. "Let's see how you like my Thousand Stingers Jutsu."

With that, the bees positioned themselves, and their stingers began to glow faintly with chakra.

"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo," Naruto whispered as he performed the necessary hand signs. His hair suddenly grew and wrapped around him before it became rigid and spiky.

The defensive jutsu took effect just in time to block against the poisonous stingers that had been shot at him by Suzumebachi's bees.

"That's a lame ass jutsu," she remarked. "Let's make this more interesting. Try out my Bee Bomb Jutsu."

Immediately, bees flowed from her sleeves, headed for Naruto. Unlike last time, each bee had a paper bomb trailing behind it by a string.

_She's doing just what sensei expected. I didn't think she'd actually use the Bee Bomb Jutsu so soon though. That's my ticket._

Naruto took a deep breath as the bees swarmed him. And then, they exploded, obscuring him with smoke that resulted from the paper bombs.

"It's time for my ultimate technique, Hidden Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death," Naruto called out as he appeared behind Suzumebachi, surprising the kunoichi.

And then he stuck his index and middle fingers in a place that was considered widely inappropriate. As surprising as such an action was to the spectators, it was not more exciting than the way she was launched forward with incredible force.

That was not the end of Naruto's attack though.

He appeared twenty feet in front of her using the Body Flicker Technique and did a front flip, smashing both of his heels into Suzumebachi's back as she flew towards him. It sent her straight into the ground, leaving a small crater from the sheer force of it.

Naruto exhaled a breath that he had not realized that he had been holding as he dropped to one knee and checked her pulse. "She's fine. She's just unconscious."

Genma shook his head, surprised by the whole ordeal. "Naruto Uzumaki is the winner. Kurotsuchi, please make your way to the ground floor." As he said that, medics came to collect the bee user.

* * *

Kurotsuchi groaned as she saw how Naruto had one his fight. While she had no qualms about fighting dirty, a chakra enhanced ass poke was a bit too much, especially on her teammate.

_He can't just randomly poke girls in the ass. And he sure as hell better not try that on me, or I'll make him pay for it for the rest of his life._

Hell hath no fury like a woman pissed.

Gathering up her nerves, she disappeared in a flicker of dust.

She reappeared from Naruto and dropped into a taijutsu stance immediately.

_From what I know of his abilities, his speed and strength are impressive, he has wind style ninjutsu, he can use the Shadow Clone Jutsu, he can make his hair grow into a type of defense, and he can bend light around his body to become invisible. He's not a simple kind of fighter. But then again, neither am I._

"You may begin," Genma said.

Her eyes narrowed as Naruto's hands rushed through a series of hand seals right from the start.

_That's the Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, if memory serves._

Gathering her chakra to her feet, she jumped clear over the attack, even before Naruto released the powerful gust of wind.

Shock filled her as Naruto immediately threw a barrage of shuriken at her.

_Damn it. He knew I'd dodge his attack. It was a trap all along. Well, I'm not a sitting duck._

She quickly formed a hand sign that caused shock to form on Naruto's face. A clone suddenly appeared next to her, grabbed her by the arm, and threw her out of the way.

The clone was hit by the barrage of shuriken and burst into smoke, but the real Kurotsuchi harmlessly hit the ground rolling.

"I didn't know your village had the Shadow Clone Jutsu," Naruto said, shaking his head.

"The version you used earlier is specific to your village, but the regular Shadow Clone Jutsu isn't," she said with a grin. Her hands quickly formed the snake hand sign, and she slapped her right hand to the ground.

_My Earth Style: Earthquake Slam should get him. I'll follow up with my Earth Style: Rock Fist._

The ground beneath Naruto's feet suddenly cracked, causing his right foot to fall slip downwards. Then, the ground tightened around his right foot, trapping his foot right below the surface.

As he looked up, Kurotsuchi had a gauntlet of rock covering her right arm as she charged towards him.

"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo," Naruto said calmly as he formed the hand signs. His blond hair once again lengthened, wrapped around his body, and became spiky and rigid. That was not the end of what he had to do though. "Ninja Art: Needle Jigoku," he said quietly as his hands moved through the hand signs underneath his hair armor.

Kurotsuchi was forced to stop and jump away as Naruto's hair began to shoot towards her as if they were needles. Her rock gauntlet fell away immediately, and she formed the snake hand sign. She slammed her hands to the ground just in time, bringing up a shield of earth to defend against the attack.

The sound of rock cracking was suddenly heard, prompting her to look around her earth shield.

Naruto was no longer where he had been standing. A hole was right where his foot had been caught. The memory of the small wind blasts that he had used against Rock Lee suddenly came to her mind.

_He must have used that attack to distract me while he freed himself. But where is he? I'm going to have to do this the easy way, I guess._

She suddenly jumped as though she was diving into a pool. When her fingers touched the ground, it seemed to become very fine sand, and she literally swam into the ground.

She knew that her Hidden Mole Jutsu was the best thing she could do at that moment. As long as she was underground, she could sense everything on the surface, even if Naruto was invisible.

* * *

Naruto took a deep breath from where he stood. He knew all about the Hidden Mole Jutsu, so he had chosen to get a vantage point for the next part of his plan. As such, he was standing on the wall right above the Waiting Area. Naturally, he had the Transparency Jutsu active.

_It's time to send out the bait._

A shadow clone formed next to him. Like him, it was invisible.

With a chakra enhanced jump, it landed in the center of the arena. As it did that, Naruto activated his Needle Jizo again.

Though both were still invisible, that did not stop Kurotsuchi from finding one.

The shadow clone became visible as it was suddenly pulled into the ground to the neck.

"I can't believe I got you with the same move I got the Sand girl with," she said as she surfaced from the ground. She walked right up to the clone, smirking the whole way.

_She's too cocky. Let's see what I can do about her overconfidence. My Needle Jigoku should do the trick._

Suddenly, Naruto became visible and his hair began to shoot at her like a barrage of senbon.

They struck her, but her body was suddenly replaced with a log.

About twenty yards away, she reappeared, panting.

"You almost got me," she said, almost out of breath. "I knew you wouldn't get caught in the same jutsu that you've already seen me use though."

_She might be able to dodge my sneak attack, but can she dodge this?_

Suddenly, a dozen shadow clones appeared on the wall with him, and they all jumped forward to attack her. All he had to do was wait until they engaged her in taijutsu, and then his Needle Jigoku would work perfectly. It was his fastest technique, and it was a widespread attack too.

Kurotsuchi grinned when she saw the shadow clones. "You can make a lot of clones, but they're weaker than my clones. Let's see how you like my Rock Clone Jutsu."

With that, she slammed her hands to the ground, and clones began to rise from the ground.

Though they looked exactly like her, Naruto got the feeling that they were special. He had no idea what a rock clone was though.

And then, they took out all of his shadow clones with easy.

The second that his shadow clones were taken out, something unexpected happened. He found that he could remember hurting his hand when he punched one of them. However, his hand was not hurt, and he had not engaged them.

_I'll have to ask Kakashi-sensei about this later. But for now, let's see how durable these guys are._

His Needle Jigoku suddenly activated, the barrage of needles hitting all of the rock clones with a great deal of force. However, only small cracks were left behind.

_Shit! They're made of rock. How could I be so stupid?_

His hair began to return to normal as he held out a single hand before him. _Here it goes. I'm going to have to put my all into this._

He disappeared in a flicker of air.

* * *

Kurotsuchi was feeling pretty confident. Not only had she dodged his attack with a Substitution Jutsu, but she had managed to destroy all of his clones were her rock clones. As expected, his Needle Jigoku had little effect on the clones too.

Her confidence began to waver moments later though.

He used the Body Flicker Technique to appear directly above one of her six rock clones, and something unexpected happened.

A blue orb of spiraling chakra appeared in his right hand. He brought it directly down on top of one of her clones, and it completely destroyed it.

The jutsu's name immediately came to her, and she actually felt fear overcome her. He had just used the Rasengan, the Yellow Flash's greatest offensive jutsu. She had heard stories of it. Combining it with the Flying Thunder God Jutsu had allowed him to easily kill a large force of jonin.

Seeing the son of the Yellow Flash use the Rasengan to destroy one of her rock clones had made her freeze. By the time she came out of it, he was destroying the last of her rock clones with it.

_I can't lose. I'll make Gramps and Dad proud._ Earth chakra began to leak from her chakra points in her right arm, covering it with a gauntlet of rock. She charged at him with all of her speed and swung it towards him.

A Rasengan had formed in Naruto's hand as her footsteps became heard, but it deactivated when he looked at her. Surprisingly, he stood absolutely still.

And then when she swung at him in a punch, he side stepped it, grabbed her arm, and threw her over his shoulder. With ease, he slammed her into the ground.

She did not think the match was over at that point, but it was.

Naruto formed a Rasengan and put it directly above her stomach.

"If I press this down, it will kill you," Naruto said quietly. "I don't want to do it. Please forfeit."

"Proctor, I forfeit," Kurotsuchi said without a hint of hesitation. It was not the thought of losing her life that made her forfeit though. It was the look in his eyes and the sadness in his voice.

Doing it would have destroyed him, and she would not let that happen.

"I declare Naruto Uzumaki the winner of the match," Genma said.

* * *

Up in the Kage's box, Onoki shook his head in surprise.

"Where did that boy learn such a move?"

Hiruzen chuckled in response. "He was trained by Jiraiya over the last month. That's where he learned the Needle Jizo, the Needle Jigoku, the Transparency Jutsu, and the Rasengan."

"He did teach the Fourth Hokage, did he not?" the Fourth Kazekage asked. He was sitting on the opposite side of the Third Hokage that the Tsuchikage was. He was wearing his typical green Kazekage robes, but he did not have the veil on that he often wore.

"Jiraiya was Minato's sensei," Hiruzen replied. "I never expected him to learn such a move in less than a month though."

"He's a prodigy," the Kazekage commented, causing the other two leaders to laugh.

"Naruto was the dead-last in his class. He's still not very bright, but he's a talented shinobi," Hiruzen said, shaking his head. "I'm told that Kurotsuchi was a true prodigy though."

"She is," Onoki agreed without a hint of hesitation. "She's only been a genin a year, and she's already mastered earth elemental manipulation."

"Well just wait," the Kazekage said with a tight smile. "We've seen what the apprentice of the Toad Sage and what the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage can do, but you haven't seen what Gaara's truly capable of yet."

"Yes, let's watch," Hiruzen said, exchanging a glance with Onoki. They could both tell that something was about to happen.

* * *

From the waiting area, Naruto watched Sasuke's fight with Gaara begin. Right from the bat, Sasuke had tested Gaara's defense using his new speed, and it became clear that Sasuke actually could get beyond it.

But still, Sasuke was not playing around, it seemed. He had gotten his distance and began to use a jutsu that made Naruto's blood boil, the Chidori.

In all honesty, he did not have a problem with the jutsu itself. However, Kakashi had told him of the jutsu during their training, and he knew that it was an assassination jutsu. While the Rasengan was easy to hold back, thus making it less dangerous, he knew that the Chidori was not a jutsu that could be held back easily at all. When it was used, it was used to kill.

The thought of Sasuke going into a match with the intention to kill his opponent disturbed Naruto. It was just the Chunin Exams, after all.

Naruto shook his head from his thoughts, watching as Sasuke used the Chidori on Gaara. It cut through Gaara's defenses and actually wounded him, but his sand had allowed him to misdirect the attack.

The instant that the Chidori sliced open Gaara's side, Sasuke jumped back and feathers began to fall from the sky.

A frown reached Naruto's face as he felt a genjutsu try to set in, and Gaara's siblings appeared at his side.

All throughout the arena, Sand ninja were readying themselves to attack.

_Is this an invasion?_

Dispelling the genjutsu, Naruto groaned. His suspicion about the finals of the Chunin Exams never coming to pass seemed to have been proved true.

With that, he jumped down to the arena floor, prepared to fight.

* * *

Author's Note: That's the end of the chapter. To answer the question, yes the Fourth Kazekage really is in the Kage's Box. Orochimaru did not kill him this one. Also, I know the Sasuke part at the end came out poorly. For some reason, I'm unable to write his short fight with Gaara. It happened the same in canon, regardless.

And that's the conclusion of the Chunin Exams Arc. If you're reading Naruto: A New Destiny, you know what I'm doing now.

I won't be updating Secrets or Naruto: A New Destiny for at least one week, maybe two. I'll be working solely on The Shadows of Caldreth, the sequel to the epic fantasy novel I have out right now.

You can complain if you want to, seeing as how I stopped between the Chunin Exams Arc and the Invasion of the Leaf Arc, but fanfiction is a hobby. Given that I actually make money off of my original fiction, I have to give it priority.

Still, I can understand why you'd want to complain. I stopped this before the invasion really started, and the much anticipated date between Naruto and Kurotsuchi has yet to happen.

Hopefully, most of you understand why I have to do this.

So thanks for reading and reviewing.


	11. The Invasion of Sand and Sound

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Invasion of Sand and Sound Arc**

**11. The Invasion of Sand and Sound**

_Last time:_

_From the waiting area, Naruto watched Sasuke's fight with Gaara begin. Right from the bat, Sasuke had tested Gaara's defense using his new speed, and it became clear that Sasuke actually could get beyond it._

_But still, Sasuke was not playing around, it seemed. He had gotten his distance and began to use a jutsu that made Naruto's blood boil, the Chidori._

_In all honesty, he did not have a problem with the jutsu itself. However, Kakashi had told him of the jutsu during their training, and he knew that it was an assassination jutsu. While the Rasengan was easy to hold back, thus making it less dangerous, he knew that the Chidori was not a jutsu that could be held back easily at all. When it was used, it was used to kill._

_The thought of Sasuke going into a match with the intention to kill his opponent disturbed Naruto. It was just the Chunin Exams, after all._

_Naruto shook his head from his thoughts, watching as Sasuke used the Chidori on Gaara. It cut through Gaara's defenses and actually wounded him, but his sand had allowed him to misdirect the attack._

_The instant that the Chidori sliced open Gaara's side, Sasuke jumped back and feathers began to fall from the sky._

_A frown reached Naruto's face as he felt a genjutsu try to set in, and Gaara's siblings appeared at his side._

_All throughout the arena, Sand ninja were readying themselves to attack._

_Is this an invasion?_

_Dispelling the genjutsu, Naruto groaned. His suspicion about the finals of the Chunin Exams never coming to pass seemed to have been proved true._

_With that, he jumped down to the arena floor, prepared to fight._

* * *

As Naruto landed on the arena floor, he looked at Genma, who had just looked to him. With the invasion starting, the village was in need of any help it could get, and it was easy to see that Naruto was not exhausted in the slightest.

"Go after them," Genma ordered as he pointed to the fleeing children of the Fourth Kazekage.

"On it," Naruto said as he took off running after them, though he was not exactly on his own in that endeavor. At his right side was Kurotsuchi, who has just appeared out of nowhere.

"I'll help," she said as she went with him.

They quickly made their way out of the arena after them.

Seeing where they were headed, Sasuke began to follow, but he stopped at Genma spoke to him.

"Sasuke Uchiha, gather up your classmates and help with the evacuations. Uzumaki can handle his situation, especially if he has the Tsuchikage's granddaughter to help him," Genma said as he kept his eyes on the Sand jonin that led Gaara's team.

"Fine," Sasuke said as he headed to the stands to gather up his classmates. It was easy to see that he was furious about not being allowed to go after Gaara as well, but it was easy to see that he was not about to refuse a direct order from a superior.

"Now, I'm going to make you pay for invading my village," Genma said as he dropped into a taijutsu stance.

"You're welcome to try," Baki said as he did the same.

* * *

"So, it looks like we're going to have to fight," Onoki commented as he looked around the roof that he had followed Sarutobi to. A purple barrier surrounded them, but his attention was not on it. No, he was looking at the Fourth Kazekage and Orochimaru, who stood before them.

"It seems so," Sarutobi agreed as he cast aside his robes and stood next to the Tsuchikage in his battle armor.

"I'm not foolish enough to fight you head on," Orochimaru said as he clapped his hands together. "I brought some back up."

Suddenly, two coffins began to rise between them. The first bore the kanji for one while the second bore the kanji for two.

"Dust Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu," Onoki quickly said as he formed a cube around both coffins with a ball in the center of it. Everyone just looked on in shock as the ball exploded, turning everything within to dust.

"No… it can't be," Orochimaru said, absolutely shocked.

"I fought Tobirama Senju in my youth," Onoki said with a grin. "Do you honestly think he never used that jutsu against me? I know what it does, and I'll be damned if I let you use it against me now."

"I should be surprised," Sarutobi commented offhanded. "But you're the only shinobi alive who has fought Madara Uchiha, so I shouldn't delude myself by thinking I can predict you."

"You better be glad that we're allies," Onoki commented. Looking at the Kazekage, he said, "I'll deal with Gold Dust. You can deal with the White Snake."

"Sounds good to me," Sarutobi said as he bit his thumb and flipped through a series of hand signs. In an instant, the monkey king, Enma, appeared next to him.

"I hope you're ready, old friend," Sarutobi said with a serious look in his eyes. "Today is the day we finish what I failed to do years ago."

Around them, the Sound Four glanced back with worried expressions on their faces. Even if they weren't exactly fond of Orochimaru, it was understandable that they did not want him to die. After all, they would easily be interrogated and executed if Orochimaru died there.

"Let's get this started," Onoki said as he prepared his dust style ninjutsu again. "Dust against Gold Dust… let's see who will win."

"I will prove that my village is superior to yours," the Kazekage said as he summoned his gold dust.

* * *

Naruto and Kurotsuchi came to a stop in the woods as Kankuro and Temari stood before them. Gaara was nowhere in sight, indicating that they had dropped him off up ahead so that they could fight without him getting injured.

"I'll deal with the blonde bimbo," Kurotsuchi said immediately as her hands fell into the snake hand sign. "You take out of the guy that likes to play with dolls."

"On it," Naruto said, ignoring the angered looks on their enemy's faces. "Against my Ninja Art: Needle Jizo, his puppets will fail."

Immediately, his body was covered in spiky blond hair. Before he could fire off his Needle Jigoku, however, he was sent flying backwards by a powerful gust of wind, courtesy of Temari.

"Earth Style: Dark Swamp," Kurotsuchi said as she slammed her hands to the ground. Immediately, the ground below the Sand ninja turned to swamp and pulled them down to their waists. At that point, she canceled the jutsu, and the ground hardered around them. It effectively trapped Kankuro's hands and Temari's fan in the ground as well. "I hadn't planned on killing you, but I hate it when my enemy attacks an ally instead of going straight after me. So say goodbye. My Earth Style: Earthquake Slam will crush your bodies with the help of the earth that is keeping your trapped."

Fear was clear on their faces, but she never got past the first hand sign.

Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "They're trying to protect their brother. I can't fault them for that. Besides, all she did was interrupt my attack. I would've done the same thing when she tried to attack you."

Kurotsuchi frowned but nodded in understanding. However, her hands formed a different set of hand signs immediately. When they were finished, Temari and Kankuro both fell asleep.

"It's just a genjutsu," she reassured him as she walked over to them and pulled them free from the ground. Setting them aside, she looked at him with a serious look in her eyes. "Let's go deal with their brother now."

"Right," Naruto said as he made his ways past where Temari and Kankuro had been standing.

Within minutes, he came upon a sight that he had not expected. Gaara was standing before him, and he was covered in sand that made him look half man and half monster.

"This isn't good," Naruto said as he tried to formulate a plan to deal with Gaara.

* * *

The Kazekage was breathing hard as he directed his gold dust as Onoki with his right hand. His left arm hung down at his side, wrapped in bandages. His gold dust was his only real weapon at that point. Any other jutsu that he could normally have used was taken out of the picture after Onoki caught his left hand in a dust style technique.

The sensation of having a hand turned to dust while it was still attached… the Kazekage suspected that the memory of that feeling would burn in his mind until he drew his last breath. Of course, he suspected that he was close to drawing his last breath anyways, so it was not that bad.

He glanced over to Orochimaru, who was not doing any better than he was. The Hokage had shown just how fluent he was in the ninjutsu of the village, and Orochimaru had lost his right arm from the elbow down.

_It was a mistake to agree to this invasion, especially since I knew the Tsuchikage would be here._

Such were his thoughts as he found himself in a large cube with the spherical center right in front of his chest.

"Goodbye Temari… goodbye Kankuro… and even you… goodbye Gaara," he said under his breath.

Those were his last words before the sphere before him exploded, turning him into dust.

* * *

Naruto and Kurotsuchi were breathing hard as Gaara stood before them. He was still in his half transformation, and they were unable to defeat him as they were. Even with all of Naruto's wind ninjutsu and all of Kurotsuchi's earth ninja, they were incapable of harming him. He was simply too strong. The only good thing was that he had no fully transformed.

"Just give up and die!" Gaara said with bloodlust radiating from him. "You're weak because you fight for others, whereas I'm strong because I fight for myself!"

"Let's fight together," Naruto said quietly as determination filled him. "Hit him with your most powerful long range jutsu, but make sure it comes at him from the front. I'll get him from behind."

"He'll kill you if you try to attack him like that," Kurotsuchi whispered. She actually sounded scared as she spoke.

"I won't die," he promised with a smile. "If I die, we can't go on that date, now can we?"

She nodded absently and formed the snake hand sign. She slammed her hands to the ground, and a dozen or so rock spikes shot at Gaara. Each one was the size of a man, but he was easily able to block them all without getting harmed.

In the time it took him to block them, Naruto disappeared.

Kurotsuchi's eyes widened as Naruto appeared behind Gaara too fast for his sand to react. In the few moments before the sand could do anything, he hit Gaara in the back of the neck with a chop and slapped a paper seal on his back.

Gaara, along with his sand, fell harmlessly to the ground.

"I can't believe I forgot that I was wearing resistance seals," Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Kurotsuchi just face-palmed at his words, but a smile made its way to her face after that. That had defeated Gaara together, even if she had only distracted Gaara.

Though she had no idea that they had outside help in the fight, Naruto did. After all, he could not make or buy seals that could suppress a jinchuriki's power.

_It's a good thing Pervy Sage gave me that seal yesterday._

* * *

"It's over," Sarutobi said as he took a deep breath.

"He still managed to escape though," Onoki said with a frown as he looked at the corpse that Orochimaru had substituted with. It had been reanimated temporarily, so it had seemed that he had still been there until Sarutobi finished it off. "And his bodyguards got away."

"Yes, but the village still stands, we are both still alive, and I the One-Tailed Beast's chakra has faded away. It seems that Naruto and your granddaughter succeeded," Sarutobi said with a smile.

"You're right," Onoki said, smiling as he looked out to the horizon. "It seems that the announcement of the engagement and young Uzumaki's heritage will come at a much needed time."

"That it will," Sarutobi agreed as a team of ANBU came within sight. "That it will."

* * *

Author's Note: Thanks for reading. I know this chapter wasn't as good as it should have been, but I had a lot of trouble writing it. My fight scenes need work, and I have a lot of trouble with emotional scenes, like when Naruto turns Gaara down a new path. Hopefully it wasn't bad though.

Anyways, I have some news to give, but I'll first tell you that the next chapter will center on the aftermath of the invasion.

Now, I have some good news and bad news. That should be expected, shouldn't it? That almost always happens.

The good news: The Shadows of Caldreth is almost finished, and I will be working on finishing up the Invasion Arc.

The bad news: I am going to be Secrets at Chapter 12.

To clarify, I'm not abandoning this story. I've decided to end it now and do a sequel later. Why? Because I don't think I can do it justice if I do it right now. I don't want either one of them to turn into the next Consequences. As good as some people thought it was, I'll never be happy with the last half of that fic.

Now that the bad news is out of the way, let me give everyone a heads up on what I'm going to be doing. I'll write one original fiction and one fanfiction at any given time, and the fanfiction I have in mind first will not be one of the sequels. I want to give myself some more time away from them before I do the sequel so I can keep up the quality.

So what will I be doing?

I'll be doing a Naruto crossover fanfic. Yeah, I always said I wouldn't do one, but I changed my mind about that.

The past week or so, I got an interest in Fairy Tail. It has since become my favorite anime/manga, and I've watched the first season of the anime (48 episodes) in the past three days. So I'll be doing a fanfic where Naruto enters the Fairy Tail world within the next week. Naturally, I'm not expecting too many people to take an interest in it. After all, I have no idea how many of my readers have even watched or read Fairy Tail. Regardless, fanfiction is a hobby of mine, and so I'll do whatever I think will be most fun.


	12. Conclusion

Author's Note: Here's the final chapter of Secrets. Enjoy

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**12. Conclusion**

Naruto sat on the balcony outside of his apartment window, looking around the village as the reconstruction had begun. He had planned on aiding in the reconstruction, but the Hokage had told him to take the day off, and that was his plan.

His mind was more or less on his plans for the night. It was the night that he had agreed to take Kurotsuchi out on a date, and that was exactly what he thought of it as at that point. Throughout the invasion, he had come to see her in a different light. He would have been lying if he claimed that he did not like her. She was a very attractive girl, and she was an overall good person. No one could claim otherwise.

It was still hard to think of her as his fiancé, despite all of that. He was not displeased by the prospect, but that did not mean he was too thrilled either. While he had no problem marrying her, the thought of marriage at all scared him. The fear had nothing to do with his age but with his origins. He knew nothing about couples. The people he had been closest to were not in relationships, so he had never even observed a healthy relationship for more than a few minutes.

Shaking his head, he moved on to another pressing thought. He had gone to see Gaara that morning. They had captured him and kept him in therapy until he was deemed safe to return to the Hidden Sand Village as part of the new alliance that had already been formed.

Gaara had taken a step forward, in Naruto's opinion. He had been beaten by someone who held an ideology different than his own, and he had come to the conclusion that Naruto was right. As such, he had actually made a vow to fight for others instead of just for himself.

"Everything's changing," Naruto said as he looked down at his slightly new attire. The only change that had happened to it was the addition of a flak jacket. After all, he had been promoted the previous night, alongside Shikamaru and Kurotsuchi.

Naturally, Kurotsuchi was not given a flak jacket then, but that was only because Shikamaru was not supposed to know that she had been promoted to the rank of chunin as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village and not as one of the Hidden Rock Village.

_They're supposed to reveal the news to everyone while we're on our date. I still wonder who came up with that plan._

He sighed, still unsure as to whether he even wanted everyone to know yet. Deep within him, he knew the answer to the question though. It had to get out sooner or later.

"You ready?"

Naruto's eyes went down to the ground and he spotted Kurotsuchi. She was standing on the ground in the standard attire of a Leaf shinobi, and she even had a flak jacket on.

_This has to be the strangest date I could have imagined._

He had expected them to both go in nice clothes or something, but she had insisted that they go as if it was just a casual event between friends.

"Sure," Naruto said as he jumped down to the ground in front of her. "Ichiraku Ramen, here we come!"

Kurotsuchi just rolled her eyes as she walked alongside him.

* * *

As Naruto and Kurotsuchi were on their date, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood in a large meeting room inside Hokage Monument with a large number of shinobi before him. The only ones that were not in the room at that moment were Naruto, Kurotsuchi, the genin outside of Naruto's graduation class, ANBU Black Ops, and the ninja that were on missions.

Clearing his throat, he said, "I have an announcement to make. This has stood as a secret for nearly thirteen years, but it must be revealed now. Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash and the Fourth Hokage, has a living son."

The sudden silence in the room was overwhelming.

"And his name is Naruto Uzumaki," Sarutobi added.

Everyone in the room that personally knew Naruto, with the sole exceptions of Jiraiya and Kakashi, were struck speechless at that announcement. It was easy to see that the entire Nara clan looked as though they wanted to slap themselves silly for not realizing it sooner.

"In addition to that, Naruto Uzumaki was placed in an arranged marriage with the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, Kurotsuchi, before his birth. As such, she is officially a Leaf shinobi and will join him on missions. If anyone harms her, they will be demoted, so do not even think about taking out aggression directed towards their village on her," he said seriously, though he doubted anyone would do so in the beginning. The Hidden Rock Village's shinobi in attendance for the Chunin Exams had aided them during the invasion, as it was. No one could deny how helpful they had been.

"That is all I have to say," Sarutobi said as he looked at the shinobi in attendance. "Do not seek out Naruto tonight. If you wish to talk to him about anything, visit him tomorrow. You are dismissed."

With that, the various shinobi in the room began to make their way out of the meeting chamber. Many of the jonin-sensei in the room shot looks at their students, silently telling them that they needed to have team meetings to talk about it.

* * *

"That was pretty good," Kurotsuchi said as she departed from Ichiraku Ramen with Naruto.

The two had had a fairly pleasant date. They really just ate and talked occasionally, but they never really grew too serious or learned too much about each other. It had been a comfortable outing regardless.

"It always is," Naruto said with a grin. Suddenly yawning, he looked up at the night sky. "So where are you staying for now?"

"I'm just staying at a hotel," Kurotsuchi said, shrugging. "The Hokage said he'd work on finding us a play we can live together without having to sleep in the same room until the wedding. We still have a while until then, after all."

"Ah, okay," Naruto said, nodding his head in understanding. "I'll walk you there."

"No, it's fine," Kurotsuchi said with a smile. "Thanks for the offer, but I have to get used to being in the village with and without you at my side."

Naruto frowned but he nodded his head in understanding.

He was suddenly caught off guard as Kurotsuchi took a step towards him and kissed him on the lips.

Before he could do anything, she stepped away with a blush on her face and walked to the opposite direction of his apartment. "Goodnight Naruto."

With a smile, Naruto turned away from here and made his way to his apartment. Something about the way she just kissed him left him feeling happiness within him like he had never experienced before.

_Yeah, things are definitely changing… and I think I like it this way._

* * *

The news of the engagement had not just been revealed in the Hidden Leaf Village though. It had been revealed in the village of their newest ally as well.

In the Hidden Rock Village, a man wearing the attire of a Rock jonin slammed his fist against the wall with anger clear in his eyes.

"I'm going to kill that bastard's son if it's the last thing I do," he vowed. "Even if I have to kill Lord Tsuchikage's granddaughter as well, I'll kill him if it's the last fucking thing I do."

He was not alone in his sentiments either. The number of people who felt that way far exceeded Onoki's predictions, and it spelled nothing but trouble for the son of the Yellow Flash.

The Destined Child had a great deal of danger in his future, and he didn't even know it yet.

* * *

Author's Note: Thanks for reading. I hoped you enjoyed the story. The sequel might not show up for several months since I only want to do one fanfic at a time now, but it'll show up eventually.

Oh, and just to clarify in regards to the poll that I had up for the crossover. Erza won, so my Naruto/Fairy Tail crossover will feature a pairing of Naruto/Erza.


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